Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will take steps to deploy specialised emergency relief and medical support teams to the Rafah crossing.

This is a fast-moving, complex and challenging situation. The UK has a team at the Rafah crossing to ensure we can provide the necessary medical, consular and administrative support needed. The FCDO have deployed humanitarian advisers to Cairo and Jerusalem and with the support of the Royal Air Force, have flown 51 tonnes of aid to Egypt for onward distribution to Gaza. This includes core relief items, including wound care packs, solar lanterns and water filtration devices, along with crucial enabling items such as forklift trucks. Additional Consular and Border Force staff are in country to support this work, as is an FCDO Rapid Deployment Team which arrived on 2 November and a team of British Red Cross psychological support experts. The former Foreign Secretary was in regular dialogue with his Egyptian counterpart regarding the safe exit of people from Gaza via the Rafah Crossing.