Middle East Update

Lord Turnberg Excerpts

Wednesday 7th May 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

The noble Baroness is absolutely right. We have been focused on ensuring that agencies are allowed to deliver aid. When we last considered this matter, I made it clear that we were ready and willing—with all agencies, not just UNRWA—to ensure that we can get aid in when this block by Israel is lifted. We are ready to do that, but we are also working very hard diplomatically to ensure that Israel allows aid to get to the people who are most in need.

I did not address the question raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, on the export of arms and international humanitarian law. This Government have suspended relevant licences for the IDF that might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international law in Gaza. Of the remaining licences for Israel, the vast majority are not for the Israeli Defense Forces but for civilian purposes or re-export and are therefore not used in the war in Gaza. The only exception is the F35 programme, due to its strategic role in NATO and the wider implications for international peace and security. Any suggestion that the United Kingdom is licensing other weapons for use by Israel in the war in Gaza is misleading.

[Lord Turnberg (Lab)]

My Lords, the situation in Gaza is truly horrendous, but Hamas must bear some responsibility for that. Indeed, the Gazan population is rising up against Hamas saying just that. I will briefly address the situation regarding aid. In view of the suggestion that Hamas purloined much of the aid that used to go in and sold it off to the suffering citizens at a profit, what is the Government’s view of Israel’s proposal—which must be taken seriously—to deliver the aid through aid hubs, arranging for it to be delivered directly to the people who really need it? That, surely, must be a way forward and should be greeted positively rather than negatively, if it can be expanded.

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for his question, which I tried to address in my opening comments to the Front Benches opposite. The scale of the problem is such that it requires all agencies and NGOs to get in and deliver the aid needed—it is huge. As I said, the United Nations itself has said that it is hard to see how, if implemented, the new Israeli plan to deliver aid through private companies would be consistent with humanitarian principles and, most importantly, meet the scale of need. By the way, I say to my noble friend that I am absolutely clear about Hamas’s responsibility and the criminal acts it has committed, and that is why we see no role for it in a future Gaza.