Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of reports of attacks by Israel on medical facilities in Gaza.

The UK Government remains deeply concerned about the impact of military activity on healthcare facilities in Gaza. Medical staff and facilities must be protected, and civilians should be able to safely access medical treatment. It is unacceptable that northern Gaza now has no functioning major health facilities, following strikes on the Kamal Adwan hospital. In our statement to the UN Security Council on 3 January, we dismayed at the deterioration of the healthcare situation in Gaza, and called on Israel to clarify the whereabouts of medical staff detained from hospitals in the north. I have repeatedly underlined our grave concern about these issues with Israeli counterparts, most recently on 3 January and again today 8 January.