Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister of State for International Development on 8 November 2023, what proportion of the additional £30 million of aid made available to the Occupied Palestinian Territories since the 7 October has entered Gaza as of 8 November 2023.

Three UK flights carrying a total of 51 tonnes of aid have landed in Egypt (on 25 October, 2 November and 3 November). The shipments have included lifesaving items such as wound care packs, water filters and solar powered lights as well as vital equipment including forklift trucks, belt conveyors and lighting towers, specifically requested by UK partners in the region to manage and deliver the aid more effectively. We are reliant on our partners, including the United Nations, to deliver UK aid and cannot currently provide an exact proportion. We are focused on enabling further humanitarian access through the Rafah crossing and other land routes, which is the most effective way of getting humanitarian support in at scale. We are also urging Israel to open other border crossings, such as Kerem Shalom, to enable more humanitarian aid to reach civilians in need. This is still not enough to meet the immediate needs of the population and we have consistently called for humanitarian pauses to allow aid in and hostages out and we welcome the announcement of four-hour pauses in north Gaza as a first step. We continue urgently to explore further diplomatic options and all practical routes, working with the UN and other partners in doing so and the UK continues to stress to all parties the need to protect border crossings to support safe humanitarian access and mitigate harm to civilians.