Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Situation

Naz Shah Excerpts

Wednesday 8th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

My hon. Friend is right that we know Hamas have hoarded fuel in Gaza, although I cannot give him a statistic on that. The statistic he gave to the House may or may not be right, but we know that they do have a stockpiling of fuel. In terms of the way in which support will be used once we get the pauses and are able to get help and humanitarian supplies into Gaza, I can tell my hon. Friend that we are very careful indeed. We never work through the Palestinian Authority or Hamas in terms of direct support; we only go through trusted organisations. As I set out in my statement, we are very careful indeed to ensure that the aid gets to those who need it and gets there directly.

[Naz Shah (Bradford West) (Lab)]

The United Nations Secretary-General has said:

“Gaza is becoming a graveyard for children.”

More than 4,000 children have been killed since the start of the conflict. Every day we see footage of heartbreaking stories; I watched a small girl being pulled out of the rubble, asking her uncle if she was dead and whether he was taking her to a graveyard. Another video showed a girl of barely five stuck under a collapsed building, praying her final prayers in preparation for her death. At their age, children should be asking whether they are going to a playground, to buy an ice cream or any of those usual things, not whether they are going to a graveyard or preparing for their death. Children outside Al-Shifa Hospital yesterday felt they needed to do a press conference to call on the world to let them live. Minister, when will the UK ramp up its effort to end the bloodshed and ensure that Palestinian children just have the right to live?

[Mr Mitchell]

The hon. Lady speaks with the greatest possible eloquence. She speaks for the whole House in saying that what is happening to children in Gaza appals us all. I just ask her to consider the wider context, accept that the Government understand and agree with her analysis of the plight of children in Gaza, and will do everything within the wider context to try to bring that to an end.