Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effect in Gaza on (a) reconstruction and (b) the production of doors and furniture of the recent decision by the Israeli government to reduce the thickness of wood that can be imported into Gaza without prior approval to 1cm.

DFID is aware of the issue of restrictions on the import of wood into Gaza and senior DFID officials have raised it with the Government of Israel at the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) meeting in September this year. We support calls to ease the number of items on the dual use list whilst recognising Israel’s legitimate security concerns about the use of materials for the manufacture of weapons. We urge Israel to make the process of listing materials as dual use more transparent and in line with internationally recognised dual use items. In the interim, DFID funding to the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism is helping to ensure that construction materials reach Gaza.