Middle East

Shockat Adam Excerpts

Monday 21st July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

Yes, yes, yes. My hon. Friend talks about the statements of Ehud Olmert. It is also right to say that others—Yair Golan, Yair Lapid, Benny Gantz and Ehud Barak, the former IDF chief—have all condemned what Minister Katz has suggested, and I too condemn it wholeheartedly.

[Shockat Adam (Leicester South) (Ind)]

Last week, as a Minister met Yair Golan, shaking hands, smiling and taking photographs, a Palestinian mother faced a dilemma: should she stay where she is and see the starvation of her children, or should she venture out and see the children being blown to pieces, adding to the 17,000 others who have died and the 10 a day whose limbs are blown off? These children do not need these empty words. Words will not stop their bleeding, they will not stop their killing, they will not nourish their bodies and they will not stop the tears of their mothers. I agree with the Secretary of State that even recognising the state of Palestine today would not make any difference to the children on the ground, so will he take a tangible step and propose a British-led, internationally supported hospital in Gaza, in partnership with a coalition of the willing, to provide some remnants of humanity in this darkest of hours?

[Mr Lammy]

Notwithstanding the huge humanitarian catastrophe that is taking place in Gaza, I am proud of the work of UK-Med, the funding we have been able to give it and the extra money that I have announced today, and that medical aid is getting through to relieve some suffering. However, the hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. We will continue to do more, and I reassure him that I am working with my Jordanian counterparts, in particular, to see what more we can do to alleviate that suffering.