Gaza: Humanitarian Situation

Lord Soames of Fletching Excerpts

Monday 6th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I am the first to commend the noble Lord on the work that he did in office. My right honourable friend Anneliese Dodds was in the region in December having just those conversations. The noble Lord is right: anybody who can do anything, no matter how seemingly small, needs to lend their shoulder to the wheel to support people, to get the medical aid in and to address the humanitarian disaster that we see unfolding in Gaza.

[Lord Soames of Fletching (Con)]

My Lords, is the Minister aware that, for many of us, this institutionalised cruelty is contrary to all the laws of war? It does not seem to many of us that Britain is making enough of this. We owe it to those children and others in the freezing cold to make much more of this disgraceful behaviour.

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

We are providing £112 million to the Occupied Territories, and £41 million specifically for UNRWA, because we understand that it is desperate. We want the conflict to stop, we want the violence to stop and we want children to be safe. We are unable to achieve that immediately, but what we ought to be able to achieve very quickly is to get that aid in. At the moment that depends on facilitation by the Israeli Government. That has not been happening, and that is what we are calling for.