‘Stop the suffering’ – MP urges Minister to take stronger action to ensure aid reaches Gaza

On the floor of the House of Commons yesterday, Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron urged the Foreign Office Minister, Hamish Falconer, to work with the UN to ensure that aid reaches Gaza

It comes after repeated reports of mass casualty incidents in which Palestinians have been killed when trying to access aid sites in Gaza.

Speaking in Parliament during a ministerial statement on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Tim said: “Securing a ceasefire is vital, securing the release of the remaining hostages is vital, and getting aid through to the suffering people of Gaza is an absolute moral imperative. 

“The Israeli Government need to ensure the safe delivery of that aid, and if they do not, the members of that Government should suffer immediate and severe consequences - no more prevarication. 

“Will the Minister also make an assessment of what the impact of cuts to the United Kingdom’s aid budget has been on the ability to deliver aid in Gaza and elsewhere, and will he work with his UN colleagues to ensure that all the resources that this Government could possibly provide to the United Nations get through, so that aid gets through and stops the dying and the suffering?

Responding, the Minister for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer said: “To be clear, the issue with aid getting into Gaza is not the availability of aid. The cuts we have announced have had no bearing on whether or not aid can get into Gaza - I know that because I have seen our aid with my very own eyes in warehouses in al-Arish. 

“We must remain focused on the central issue, which is neither the availability of aid nor the availability of partners, such as the United Nations, that are prepared to go in and deliver it; it is that the Israeli Government have effectively put in place a blockade. That is the central issue that must be addressed.”