Middle East

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Monday 21st July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

My hon. Friend will have heard the statement that I made today on the extra steps that we are taking in terms of humanitarian aid. He will have seen the statement, made by 31 international partners, on the fact that this war must come to an end and that aid must get in. He is right to condemn the aid system. We warned Israel about reducing the aid points to four, and now we are seeing the horrors in front of our eyes. I remind Israel again about its obligations to international humanitarian law and my worry that they are being breached.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

We rightly re-funded UNRWA, but since then aid has become a daily death trap and starvation is widespread. Our calls for a ceasefire only saw the last one get broken. Now, as my right hon. Friend has pointed out, the chilling order to forcibly displace an entire population of 2 million people has been condemned by ex-Israeli PM Ehud Barak. What more concrete actions are we taking to stop the man-made destruction of Gaza—35 hospitals, as well as hostages, soldiers and civilians—before our very eyes? History will not judge this well, and words are not working.

[Mr Lammy]

We stand with the international community in all our efforts. In terms of what comes next, we support the Arab plan. We are working with Arab partners to improve that plan and to get to the day after, which we can get to if we get that ceasefire.