Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on people living in Gaza of the construction of a wall by the Egyptian Government along their respective borders.

We remain deeply concerned about the human rights situation in Gaza and support the Palestinian Authority returning to administer Gaza. Egypt has a right to secure borders, and we continue urging Egypt to show maximum flexibility in opening the Rafah crossing. Officials from our Embassy in Cairo raised the Rafah crossing with the Egyptian authorities on 19 December 2019, highlighting the need to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Ministers and officials regularly raise the situation in Gaza with the Egyptian Government both in London and in Cairo, and will continue to do so.