David Lammy Foreign Secretary, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
With permission, Mr Deputy Speaker, I would like to make a statement on the middle east. I will begin with Syria. We have been horrified by the recent violence in the south, including civilian deaths. Clashes between Druze and Bedouin militias have quickly escalated into intense fighting, with involvement from Government forces and further Israeli strikes on the Syrian military. As I have said directly to Foreign Minister al-Shaibani, we want to see the fighting ended, civilians protected, and the rights of all Syrians upheld. The violence in Suwayda must be investigated, and those responsible must be held accountable. We want humanitarian access to be restored and for aid to be delivered, and Syria’s sovereignty must be respected.
The UK can be proud of our support to the Syrian people over many years. A stable Syria matters to the UK’s national interest, in terms of terrorism, irregular migration and regional stability. We must work to prevent extremism, sectarianism or lawlessness taking hold now that Assad is gone. That is why we are backing a sustainable ceasefire. It is why we support an inclusive transition, and it is why I visited Damascus recently to support the new Government and to press them to meet their commitments.
I will now turn to the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. It is two and a half months since Prime Minister Netanyahu restarted offensive operations. The Israel Defence Forces have driven Palestinians out of 86% of Gaza, leaving around 2 million people trapped in an area scarcely over 20 square miles. Whatever this Israeli Government might claim, repeated displacement of so many civilians is not keeping them safe. In fact, it is quite the reverse.
The new Israeli aid system is inhumane and dangerous, and it deprives Gazans of human dignity. It contradicts long-established humanitarian principles. It creates disorder that Hamas are now exploiting, with distribution points reduced from 400 to just four. It forces desperate civilians, children among them, to scramble unsafely for the essentials of life. It is a grotesque spectacle, wreaking a terrible human cost.
Almost 1,000 civilians have been killed since May seeking aid, including 100 this weekend alone. There are near-daily reports of Israeli troops opening fire on people trying to access food. Israeli jets have hit women and children waiting for a health clinic to open. An Israeli drone has struck down children filling water containers, which Israeli officials blamed on a technical error. Hamas are of course contributing to the chaos and taking advantage of it, but I utterly condemn the killing of civilians seeking to meet their basic needs. The Israeli Government must answer: what possible military justification can there be for strikes that have killed desperate, starving children? What immediate actions are they taking to stop this litany of horrors? What will they do to hold those responsible to account?
I am a steadfast supporter of Israel’s security and right to exist. I treasure the many connections between our peoples, and the horrors of 7 October must never be forgotten, but I firmly believe that the Israeli Government’s actions are doing untold damage to Israel’s standing in the world and undermining Israel’s long-term security. Netanyahu should listen to the Israeli people, some 82% of whom desperately want a ceasefire, and to the hostages’ families, because they know a ceasefire offers the best chance to bring their loved ones home. Those hostages may be hidden in cramped tunnels under the ruins of Gaza, but we will not forget them, or Hamas’s despicable actions, and we will continue to demand their unconditional release. This offensive puts them in grave danger, but still Netanyahu persists.
Indeed, Minister Katz has gone further, proposing to drive Gaza’s entire population into Rafah, imprisoning Palestinians, unless they are persuaded to emigrate. This is a cruel vision that must never come to pass, and I condemn it unequivocally. Permanent forced displacement is a violation of international humanitarian law. Many Israelis themselves are appalled. As the former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said,
“it marches us into the abyss”.
He is right.
Today I join a statement with 31 Foreign Ministers as signatories. It had a simple, urgent message: the war in Gaza must end now. There is no military solution. Negotiations will secure the hostages. Further bloodshed serves no purpose. Hamas and Israel must both commit to a ceasefire now, and the next ceasefire must be the last ceasefire. I thank the United States, Qatar and Egypt for their tireless efforts. I am sure that all Members share my intense frustration that the ceasefire has not happened. Until there is a breakthrough, we must keep doing all we can to relieve the suffering.
UK aid has saved lives, reaching hundreds of thousands with food, water, hygiene and sanitation, and essential healthcare. Under the most appalling circumstances, our aid is saving lives today. That includes the almost £9 million the UK has provided to UK-Med since we entered office, reaching half a million patients inside Gaza and 24,000 in the past fortnight alone, including three-year old Razan—UK-funded medics removed a bullet from her neck after nearly three hours of surgery. These doctors and nurses working in the most extreme conditions are true heroes. They deserve the thanks and admiration of the entire House.
We are also working multilaterally. The 149 trucks from the World Food Programme and UNICEF entering Gaza in recent days included food supplies funded by the UK. Thousands more trucks laden with aid paid for by British taxpayers can enter the moment that the Israeli Government let them in. Today I am announcing an extra £40 million for humanitarian assistance in Gaza this year, including £7.5 million for UK-Med to sustain its vital operations in Gaza and save more lives.
Accompanying the horrors in Gaza is an accelerating campaign to prevent a future Palestinian state in the west bank. It is embraced by Netanyahu, encouraged by his Ministers and driven by an extremist ideology that wants to suffocate the two-state solution, which is the only route to a lasting peace and security. We see it in the unprecedented pace of settlement expansion and in the shocking levels of settler violence—and even settler terrorism, for that is what the most egregious ideological attacks are. The deliberate attempts to squeeze the Palestinian Authority, unjustly denying them access to their own funds, harms Israel’s long-term interests in the process. Now the Israeli Government are reintroducing plans to construct new units in the E1 area of occupied East Jerusalem. If built, that settlement would separate the west bank’s north from its south, and Palestinians in the west bank from East Jerusalem. These plans are wholly unacceptable, they are illegal, and they must not happen.
We are striving to keep open the prospects of a two-state solution. UK assistance has been preserving the Palestinian Authority, contributing to essential Palestinian workers’ salaries and supporting them to progress critical reforms. Today I can confirm that we are enhancing our support, providing £7 million to strengthen the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian governance, implementing the agreement signed by me and Prime Minister Mustafa earlier this year, and delivering the reform plans that President Abbas has set out. I can also confirm that we are providing £20 million to support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s many services for Palestinian refugees.
Alongside that support, we are leading diplomatic efforts to show that there must be a viable peaceful pathway to a Palestinian state involving the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, in the security and governance of the area. Hamas can have no role in the governance of Gaza, and nor must it be allowed to use it as a launchpad for terrorism. Israeli Ministers should support the Palestinian Authority, not actively undermine their economy, as Ministers Ben Gvir and Smotrich are doing. The UK is co-leading with Egypt the humanitarian and reconstruction track for the forthcoming two-state solution conference, and we are pushing to agree plans for a credible next phase in Gaza, with a responsible, reformed PA at their core, so that we can turn any temporary ceasefire into a lasting peace.
In our year in office, this Labour Government have acted to address this horrendous conflict. We restored funding to UNRWA after the Tories froze it. We suspended arms export licences, when the Tories had declined to act. We have provided nearly a quarter of a billion in humanitarian assistance this year and next, getting medical treatment and food to hundreds of thousands of civilians in Gaza. We have stood with the hostage families at every stage. We have worked with Jordan to fly medicines into Gaza, with Egypt to treat medically evacuated civilians, and with Kuwait and UNICEF to help children in Gaza.
We have delivered three sanctions packages on violent settlers, suspended trade negotiations with the Israeli Government, and sanctioned far-right Israeli Ministers for incitement. We have defended the independence of the international courts. We have signed a landmark agreement with the Palestinian Authority and hosted the Palestinian Prime Minister in London, pushing for the reform they need. We called for, worked for and voted for an immediate ceasefire and the release of the hostages at every possible opportunity, and we will keep doing so until this war is over, Hamas release the hostages and we finally have a pathway to a two-state solution. I commend this statement to the House.
Roger Gale Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Ways and Means, Deputy Speaker
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
Priti Patel Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
I am grateful to the Foreign Secretary for advance sight of his statement.
The violence, loss of life and conflicts that continue in the middle east shock us all. Events in the middle east have a direct impact on our national interests and on people living on our own country, from concerns about family members in the region to demonstrations on our streets, and from the threats from Iran to the rise of antisemitism. We on the Opposition side of the House are clear that we want to see an end to the conflict in Gaza. We want to see the return of the hostages. The humanitarian support, which is so desperately needed, must get in. There must be an end to the terror inflicted by Hamas and Iran. However, the reality of peace and a sustainable end to the conflict in Gaza seems to be drifting further away.
What is Britain’s role when it comes to workable outcomes and practical solutions to advance an end to this conflict, and what diplomatic action is being taken with regional allies and the United States? Where is Britain’s voice and action when it comes to putting new pressure on Hamas to agree to the most recent US proposals to secure a ceasefire, and release the hostages who have been in cruel captivity for more than 650 days? As for the statement that the Foreign Secretary signed earlier today, can he explain what an “unconditional and permanent” ceasefire means for Hamas and the Palestinian Authority?
Last week, I met Keith and Aviva Siegel, and heard about their harrowing experience of being held in brutal captivity by Hamas. I pay tribute to them for their incredible bravery and resilience, and for their dedication to securing the freedom of the remaining hostages, from Gali and Ziv Berman to Matan Angrest and Omri Miran, and all those being held in barbaric captivity. They must be returned to their loved ones. The hostages are being denied humanitarian access by Hamas. What are the Government doing about that, and when was the Foreign Secretary’s last intervention on the issue?
The situation relating to aid for Gaza has deteriorated beyond all rational comprehension. The daily reports of casualties seeking aid are appalling, and we utterly condemn these attacks. But our words and political statements of condemnation are not saving lives, so what practical solutions, proposals and options have the Foreign Secretary and the British Government discussed with Israel in respect of aid supplies into Gaza? What dialogue is there to find agreement on the opening of access for that aid that goes beyond the current dangerous approach? I remind the House that the last Conservative Government, through Lord Cameron, secured new aid routes and better aid access to save lives. Surely the desperate urgency of the situation, which we all see, calls for such options to be considered once again.
I reiterate our long-standing position that settlements are not helpful to achieving long-term peace. Israel should not take steps that could make a two-state solution more difficult, and must use its legal system to clamp down on settler violence. We want a two-state solution that guarantees security and stability for both Israelis and Palestinians, and I am sure the Foreign Secretary agrees that it should come only at a time that is conducive to peace and cannot be the start of a peace process—certainly not while Israeli hostages are still in captivity in Gaza. Does he agree that there needs to be a clear plan and international measures to see the exit of Hamas from Gaza?
As for Syria, the barbaric violence that we have witnessed in recent days cannot continue. All groups and minorities in Syria must be protected. The Foreign Secretary mentioned his recent discussions with the transitional Syrian leadership. Did he convey to those in charge that they have a responsibility to end the armed conflict in their country and guarantee the protection of all minority groups in Syria, before the international community removes sanctions and normalises diplomatic relationships? What assurances has he received from the transitional Government, and have those commitments been met in any way with measurable action? Will he update the House on whether any of the £64.5 million dedicated to Syria that was announced by the Government earlier this month will be used to deal with the aftermath of these latest clashes, and on how it will be spent? Does he deem sufficient action to have been taken by the interim Government on the destruction of chemical weapons? Does he believe that the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham Government are capable of securing Syria’s borders, and does he intend to change the proscribed status of HTS? What is his assessment of the effect of the sanctions that have already been lifted? Have they had any unintended side effects? Syria’s future still hangs in the balance, and we need to be wholly evidence-led in our approach.
The Foreign Secretary did not mention Iran, but we understand from reports that Iran, Britain, France and Germany are due to hold nuclear talks in Istanbul on Friday. What is the purpose of those talks, is he co-ordinating actions with the United States, and what is the content of the deal that he wants to see?
David Lammy Foreign Secretary, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
I am grateful to the shadow Foreign Secretary for the tone of her remarks, and I am grateful for the cross-party consensus in the House that this war must come to an end. I note the huge concern that we all feel, not just in the House but in the international community, about the humanitarian suffering that we continue to see.
The right hon. Lady asked what more could be done and prayed in aid the work of the former Foreign Secretary, Lord Cameron. She will recognise that Lord Cameron and, before him, Sir James Cleverly raised the humanitarian situation with the Israelis. It has become steadily worse. The number of aid points is now down to four, and, while the new foundation is offering aid, people are dying as they scramble for that aid. I note that the right hon. Lady did not say we should return to the 400 aid points that we had in the past, and she will note that her Government did not refund funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, but we believe that the UN and its system are best placed to deliver aid to Gaza, and that is the position that we continue to maintain.
Against that backdrop, the right hon. Lady asked what we were doing on a multilateral basis and what we were doing in working with others to bring this to an end. I ask her to read the statement that has landed, which 31 countries have now signed up to. Of course we are pressing and working with colleagues. I spoke to Minister Sa’ar once again today, urging him to do the right thing—to secure a ceasefire, but also to look at the aid system that is not working.
As for governance, the right hon. Lady will know that in a couple of weeks’ time we will participate in the two-state conference that has been organised by France, and she will also know that that conference is now dedicated to looking closely at the governance arrangements that must be put in place. When Hamas leave—and they must go; they cannot govern Gaza—how do we ensure that it is not a 60-day pause, but that we bring an end to this and move to the two-state solution? The right hon. Lady knows our commitment to recognition, as set out in our manifesto, and the conversation about recognition that is going on internationally.
The right hon. Lady rightly pressed the case on Syria. When I met al-Sharaa, I made it absolutely clear that his Government had to be inclusive. I pressed him on his background as a terrorist, and on our concerns—the concerns that exist in this Chamber—but we must work with him to ensure that the Government are inclusive, and to ensure that security is fundamental. As the right hon. Lady will understand, there is much that we need to do to support them on counter-terrorism at this time, and, in a country where 90% of people are living in poverty, to ensure that people receive the aid and support that they need—and, indeed, that that aid and support go to the areas affected by the murders we have seen over the last few days.
John Whittingdale Conservative, Maldon
The deaths of those trying to access aid in Gaza are truly shocking. The Foreign Secretary will be aware that the number of civilians killed is being disputed by Israel and there are suggestions of disinformation. Does he agree that one way in which we could establish what is actually happening is if international media organisations, like the BBC and Reuters, were allowed full access to Gaza?
David Lammy Foreign Secretary, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Yes, 100%.
