Palestinian Territories: Development Support

Lord Pannick Excerpts

Monday 1st September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I recognise and commend the work that the noble Lord does to bring about a future for the people of Israel and the people of Palestine. He knows and I know—and I think there is broad agreement—that the right future here is for a two-state solution. Our view is that the best way to bring that about, or when that does happen, is for there to be a Palestinian Authority that has the capacity and capability to be able to run the future state in a way that we would all wish to see.

The points that the noble Lord raises about textbooks are valid. That is one reason why we want to work with the Palestinian Authority to reform how this is done—and there are other issues, too, which I am sure will be raised in this exchange.

On the issue of food, I am glad that the noble Lord has been, and I am glad that he saw some aid trucks going in. However, the sad truth of this is that what is going in is a very small fraction of what is needed. More than 2,000 people have been killed trying to access aid through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation; it is failing to deliver aid in the volume needed. The IPC has now designated famine, and we expect that thousands of children will die in the coming months unless the levels of aid are dramatically increased. I know that that is what the noble Lord wants to see as well—nobody in this Chamber is arguing that that is an acceptable situation. What we have to do is to work out how to persuade the Government of Israel, who are the only people who are able to allow that aid in, to get the aid, the medical supplies, the people and the water to where it is needed to save those lives, and that must be done immediately.

[Lord Pannick (CB)]

My Lords, today is the 695th day in captivity of the hostages taken on 7 October. Do the Government accept that there can be no progress in addressing the tragedy of Gaza unless and until all those hostages, and the dead bodies retained by Hamas, are returned to Israel?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I cannot see a situation where there is any kind of peace, lasting or otherwise, that comes about without the release of those hostages. What their families have been forced to endure for far too long is unimaginable for many of us. Many of us here have met the families of those hostages. Thank goodness some of them have been released, but, as the noble Lord says, many have not. We call on anybody who has any ability to help to bring it about that those people are released and tragically, in too many cases, that their bodies are returned, and for that to happen immediately.