Extract from
PMQs
(Meon Valley) (Con): The
prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan KC,
has concluded his first visit to Israel and
Palestine, and has said:
“We must show that the law is there, on the front lines, and that
it is capable of protecting all”.
What support will Britain offer the International Criminal Court
to enable it to conduct investigations of the conduct of all
parties in Israel Gaza and the
west bank before and since 7 October?
The Prime Minister: As is well known, we are a strong and
long-standing supporter of the International Criminal Court. When
it comes to the situation in Gaza, we have been consistent in
saying that international humanitarian law has to be respected.
All parties must take every possible step to avoid harming
civilians, and I can say that I stressed that point specifically
just yesterday to Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Lords repeat of Commons
Urgent Question on Gaza: Humanitarian Situation
The following Answer to an Urgent Question was given in the House
of Commons on Monday 4 December.
“A tragedy is unfolding in the Middle East. Israel has suffered the
worst terror attack in its history, and Palestinian civilians are
experiencing a devastating and growing humanitarian crisis. As
the Foreign Secretary made clear, last week’s agreement was a
crucial step towards providing relief to the families of the
hostages and addressing the humanitarian emergency in Gaza. This
pause has provided an opportunity to ensure that much greater
volumes of food, fuel and other lifesaving aid can enter
Gaza.
On 24 November, the British Government announced a further £30
million-worth of humanitarian assistance, tripling our existing
aid budget for the Occupied Palestinian Territories this
financial year and bringing it to a total of £60 million. During
the pause, the fourth UK aircraft, carrying 23 tonnes of
humanitarian aid for Gaza, arrived in Egypt, bringing the total
amount of UK humanitarian aid provided by British aircraft to 74
tonnes. That aid is now being dispersed to the United Nations to
support critical food, water, health, shelter and protection
needs in Gaza, and to pre-position emergency supplies in the
region. We are also actively exploring other aid routes,
including by sea.
The pause that ended last week was a crucial step towards
providing relief to the families of the hostages and addressing
the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. We have said repeatedly that we
would like to see an extension. UK humanitarian funding will
continue to support trusted partners to provide humanitarian
assistance, and negotiate humanitarian access, in Gaza. The UK
will continue, in conjunction with our international partners, to
advocate internationally on humanitarian priorities. These
include respect for international humanitarian law, the need for
fuel, humanitarian access, humanitarian pauses and an increase in
the types of assistance. We are urgently exploring all diplomatic
options to increase that, including urging Israel to open other
existing land borders, such as Kerem Shalom.
We welcome the intensive international co-operation, including
efforts from Qatar and the USA, which led to the agreement, and
we thank partners for their continued work. We remain committed
to making progress towards a two-state solution.
Britain’s long-standing position on the Middle East peace process
is clear: we support a negotiated settlement leading to a safe
and secure Israel living alongside
a viable and sovereign Palestinian state. The UK will continue to
work with all partners in the region to reach a long-term
political solution that enables both Israelis and Palestinians to
live in peace.”
3.58pm
(Lab)
My Lords, as each day passes, the need for a return to a
cessation of hostilities becomes more urgent, in order to secure
the release of hostages, address the humanitarian crisis and
begin the process towards a political solution. Rising numbers of
Gazans are being internally displaced in the current process of
urging civilians to evacuate to so-called safe zones—which is, as
a Minister put it, kettling people together—apart from the huge
personal tragedies for families and communities.
Can the Minister say what assessment his department has made of
the impact this displacement will have on levels of infectious
diseases, and how would we be able to support the people in those
circumstances? Separately, given the increase in violence against
Palestinians in the West Bank, which I know the noble Lord has
witnessed, as have I personally, will the UK follow the US lead
in placing visa bans on the settlers responsible for this
violence?
The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development
Office () (Con)
My Lords, first, I assure the noble Lord that I think we all
agree with him that we want to see conditions prevailing that
allow humanitarian aid, which is continuing, notwithstanding the
continuation of the conflict, but at levels that ensure at least
some sense of hope and sustenance for the people in Gaza. The
number of Palestinian civilians who have suffered as a result of
this conflict is immense. Although we have supported and
recognised the right of Israel in light of the
terror attacks, it is clear that the humanitarian suffering is
immense. Too many children and vulnerable people have died—some
of the figures are eye-watering.
On the humanitarian crisis, I agree with the noble Lord, and we
are working very closely with UN agencies, including the World
Health Organization, which is very seized of this issue.
Hospitals’ ability to sustain their operational capacity is
extremely limited; I think the World Health Organization said
today that it is working in the south at about 300% in terms of
its capacity limits. We are not only focusing on ensuring that
the support gets through the Rafah border; as the noble Lord
knows, through both private and public briefings I have given to
him, we are also working to ensure that the Kerem Shalom
operation can be restored. In that regard, the Prime Minister
spoke to Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday and my noble friend
the Foreign Secretary is currently in Washington and will be
engaging on all aspects of this crisis.
On the issue of the hostages, I am travelling to Qatar again this
weekend, because that provides the first important cornerstone in
bringing a resolution to this conflict.
The noble Lord referred to the West Bank violence. The Foreign
Secretary made clear when he travelled to Israel—noble Lords will
have noticed this in public statements as well—the importance of
not just stopping settler violence but holding those responsible
to account. We note the action taken by the US, and I am sure
that will be part of the conversations my noble friend has with
the Secretary of State in Washington.
(LD)
My Lords, the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza now has 15,250
civilian casualties, 70% of whom are women and children, and the
news today is that 600,000 people have been told to move.
However, where is the Government’s assessment of where it is safe
for them to move to? Turning to the appeal from the World Food
Programme, it says that only one-third of stocks have been
replenished. Why have His Majesty’s Government not increased
humanitarian support to the Occupied Palestinian Territories from
two weeks ago, which currently stands at less than a quarter
compared with pre-ODA cut levels?
With regard to the West Bank, we now know that 244 civilians have
been killed, 65 of them children. What is the cause of the delay
in the UK moving now to ensure that there is no impunity? We want
to make sure that there are no extremists in Gaza at the end of
this conflict but equally, there should be no impunity for those
who are conducting extremist activities in the West Bank against
civilians. Why is there a delay in removing visa waiver access
for them?
(Con)
On the noble Lord’s last question, I think I have answered that.
Of course, I will not speculate on what actions we may or may not
take but my noble friend the Foreign Secretary’s statements on
the issue of accountability have been very clear. On humanitarian
support, the noble Lord will also recognise that we have
increased our support, particularly through UNRWA, and we are
working directly with those on the ground, including
international agencies. Our current support is now up to £60
million, and we will continue to review what further support is
needed. We are working directly not just with other UN agencies
but with those on the ground, including key partners such as
Egypt—Qatar also has an active operation—to ensure that we get
the right support through to the right people.
On the issue of people within Gaza being displaced, I of course
note what the noble Lord said. I agree with him, and that is why
we have made it very clear that safe zones and protected areas is
a key question for Israel to answer. We
have seen in history that safe zones are not something that the
UK has supported, nor continues to. We need a sustainable sense
of these hostilities coming to an end—the creation of those
conditions —and we are working to that end.
My Lords—
(Con)
My Lords—
(Con)
My Lords—
Noble Lords
Bishop!
My Lords, the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC has called for
the collection of evidence where there are alleged violations of
international law. What are His Majesty’s Government doing to
help with the collection of any such evidence?
(Con)
My Lords, I am aware of the prosecutor’s visit to both Ramallah
and Israel We are strong
supporters of the International Criminal Court. He will make his
appropriate determinations, and it is important we allow him the
space and opportunity to do his job effectively.
(Con)
My Lords—
(Con)
My Lords—
The Lord Privy Seal () (Con)
My Lords, I hesitate to arbitrate between my noble friends. I
think it might be usual to hear first from that Bench, and then I
hope there is also time for my other noble friend.
(Con)
I am grateful. I pay tribute to what the Minister has been doing
throughout this crisis. I know he has spent much personal capital
on making sure that people are discussing these incredibly
difficult matters, and that it has been personally traumatic for
shim. The whole House values and appreciates what he has been
doing. I want to follow up the questions from the two Front
Benches. What consequences follow from settler violence? What
consequences follow for those individual settlers, but also for
Ministers in the Israeli Government who have supported this
violence, not just through their rhetoric but through the
provision of arms? Is the Minister going to be brave and bold
enough to say at the Dispatch Box that either we have little
political say with the Israeli Government, or we are saying it
and they are not listening?
(Con)
My Lords, as my noble friend will know from her own experience,
it is important that we make public statements and private
representations, and we are doing that to Israel While we
support Israel as an ally and
friend; the other side of the coin is that we can give quite
candid messages, and I assure my noble friend that we are doing
just that.
The issue of accountability is well recognised, and I alluded to
the response and visit of my noble friend the Foreign Secretary
on that issue. As I said in answer to an earlier question, he is
currently in the US, and we are aware of the actions it has
taken.
I heard my noble friend’s earlier question, so perhaps I can
answer that at the same time. In anything, we have to be very
measured in our diplomacy, but giving in to blackmail or threats
is not the way of any British Government.
(PC)
My Lords, does the Minister accept that in the first week of
October, there was massive sympathy with the Israeli people and
their suffering, in light of the outrageous activities of Hamas?
Does he also accept that when people see, night after night, the
slaughter going on in Gaza, there is every danger of losing the
battle for international understanding and sympathy—of winning
the battle but losing the war? Can that message please get
through?
(Con)
As for the first part of the noble Lord’s question, the attacks
that took place on 7 October were abhorrent, and that is why we
welcome the universal condemnation of those acts, irrespective of
who you are, where you are and what faith you follow. Let us be
very clear: Hamas itself does not represent the best interest of
the Palestinians. It certainly does not represent the interests
of a faith that I know other noble Lords follow, or indeed any
faith or belief. Nothing sanctions the acts of terrorism
committed by Hamas. Equally, I know, both personally and in my
professional capacity, that we are seeing many innocent
Palestinians lose their lives, including vulnerable women and
children. The Government and my noble friend the Foreign
Secretary are seized of this, and we are engaging in shuttle
diplomacy with all partners. Israel is a
friend, and I refer to my response to my noble friend Lady Warsi:
a friend means you can support that friend and ally with them, as
we have done, yet equally land those messages that others perhaps
cannot to ensure we see a pathway to peace in this process.
Lords repeat of Commons
Urgent Question on Middle East: UK Military Deployments
The following Answer to an Urgent Question was given in the House
of Commons on Tuesday 5 December.
“Since Hamas’s horrendous attack on Israel on
7 October, we have increased our military presence in the region.
This is to support contingency planning, monitor the evolving
situation, and be ready to react and respond. As the right
honourable gentleman will know, I deployed a Royal Navy task
group to the eastern Mediterranean, including RFA ‘Lyme Bay’ and
RFA ‘Argus’, three Merlin helicopters and a company of Royal
Marines as a contingency measure. HMS ‘Diamond’ is sailing
through the Red Sea to provide maritime security. HMS ‘Lancaster’
is already in the Middle East.
This morning, I provided a Written Ministerial Statement
notifying the House that unarmed military surveillance flights
will begin in support of hostage rescue. The UK Government have
been working with partners across the region to secure the
release of hostages, including British nationals who have been
kidnapped. I will move heaven and earth to bring our hostages
home. The UK Ministry of Defence will conduct surveillance
flights over the eastern Mediterranean, including operating in
airspace over Israel and Gaza. The
surveillance aircraft will be unmanned. They do not have a combat
role and will be tasked solely to locate hostages. Only
information relating to hostage rescue will be passed to the
relevant authorities responsible for those rescues.
The MoD is working on land, air and maritime routes to deliver
urgently needed humanitarian aid. Four RAF flights carrying over
74 tonnes of aid have landed in Egypt. I am considering whether
RFA ‘Argus’ and RFA ‘Lyme Bay’ can support medical and
humanitarian aid provision, given that their original purpose was
potentially to take non-combatants out of the area. The MoD
routinely deploys significant numbers of military personnel in
the wider middle east for operations such as counter-Daesh,
training, maritime security and other reasons. There is currently
a force laid down across the region of nearly 2,500 military
personnel.
Later this week, the Chief of the Defence Staff and I are
visiting sovereign base areas, the Republic of Cyprus, the
Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel I
will, of course, report back to the House after that visit. Our
objectives include to demonstrate and reaffirm the UK’s continued
support for Israel while
continuing to press for adherence to international humanitarian
law; to emphasise the importance the UK places on humanitarian
aid reaching Gaza; to facilitate a deeper understanding of
Israel’s planned next steps in Gaza now that the current pause
has ended, and activity along the northern border; and to
reaffirm the United Kingdom’s continued belief in a two-state
solution and support for a viable and sovereign Palestinian state
alongside a safe and secure Israel ”
7.48pm
(Lab)
My Lords, I start by wishing the noble Earl, Lord Minto, well in
his important position; we all wish him well on that.
We welcomed last week’s pause in fighting. Efforts continue to
get much-needed aid into Gaza. We supported and welcomed the
initial deployment of UK forces on 13 October; we recognise the
important role that the UK plays in strengthening regional
stability in the Middle East. We learned earlier this week that
unarmed military surveillance will begin support for hostage
rescue. How will the Government ensure that these UK surveillance
flights support hostage rescue and not any military operation? In
terms of UK military personnel and assets deployed to the region,
what steps are we taking to ensure that they can fulfil their
designated role and also be adequately protected?
The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (The ) (Con)
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his welcome. His Majesty’s
Government’s objectives in the short term are: first, to secure
the release of the British hostages, which my right honourable
friend in the other place said he
“will move heaven and earth”—[Official Report, Commons, 5/12/23;
col. 211.]
to do; secondly, to show solidarity with Israel in
defending itself against the terrorist organisation Hamas; and,
thirdly, to call for humanitarian pauses exclusively to deliver
emergency aid. Those are the three primary things.
The surveillance flights that have started are manned and
unarmed. They are there specifically to assist in locating,
identifying and removing hostages, particularly British ones. On
the question of ensuring that the assets being deployed are
protective, clearly, force protection is absolutely paramount in
any form of military operation but, beyond that, we cannot go
into any specific depth for clearly understood reasons.
of Newnham (LD)
My Lords, I think I welcomed the Minister to his place when he
opened the King’s Speech debate, but I welcome him again. The
noble Lord, , asked about the protection of
our forces but my question is about the sustainability of
deployment. It is absolutely right that we have sent a Royal Navy
task force and that HMS “Diamond” is on its way—it is good to see
that it is currently seaworthy —but what assessment have His
Majesty’s Government made about the length of potential
deployments, given that forces are already quite constrained? Do
we have adequate resources and troop mobilisation, and have we
thought about the question of morale?
The (Con)
The noble Baroness makes a very good point: morale is obviously
paramount. Part of ensuring the morale of His Majesty’s forces is
ensuring that there are sufficient forces not only to fulfil the
task but to provide force protection. In this case, it is not as
though any forces have been taken away from any other theatre;
the noble Baroness is absolutely right that the ships that have
been dispatched have come from another location. HMS “Lancaster”
is already in the Gulf; HMS “Diamond” is on the way to join it;
HMS “Duncan” is already operating as part of a NATO maritime task
group in the Mediterranean; and the RFA “Lyme Bay” and RFA
“Argus” are standing off, ready to assist wherever possible.
Certainly, there are sufficient forces, and nothing has been
withdrawn from anywhere else.
(Con)
My Lords, I am delighted to follow the noble Baroness because I
can perhaps help her with an answer. I declare my interest as
director reserves in the British Army. HMS “Lancaster”, which I
had the privilege to visit two weeks ago in Bahrain, is
permanently deployed to the Gulf. It is a new model, whereby we
deploy the ship for three years and rotate the crew, meaning that
she can be on station for a prolonged period of time, while HMS
“Diamond” is simply surged. However, that puts considerable
strain on the crew because you need to double-crew HMS
“Lancaster”; they have four months on and four months off. Will
my noble friend the Minister look at this model for other vessels
in the Royal Navy because it results in their being on station
for much longer, or is it the case, as I suspect, that we simply
do not have sufficient vessels to do this for a second vessel?
Does it put too much strain on the naval personnel who are
required to do that double-manning?
The (Con)
My Lords, I do not know the detail on that, so I will find out
and write to my noble friend.
(LD)
My Lords, the Minister, being a good Scot, will perhaps know the
Scottish Gaelic welcome, “One hundred thousand welcomes”. I am
happy to join in repeating the welcome to him. He has already
referred to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, which is part of the
deployment. A little further on in the Statement, the Secretary
of State said:
“Four RAF flights carrying over 74 tonnes of aid have landed in
Egypt. I am considering whether RFA Argus and RFA Lyme Bay can
support medical and humanitarian aid provision”.—[Official
Report, Commons, 5/12/23; col. 211.]
Has that decision been taken? If not, does not the deterioration
we see on a daily basis in relation to medical and humanitarian
aid suggest that, if it is to be taken, it ought to be taken
fairly quickly?
The (Con)
The noble Lord makes a good point. I am sure he knows that my
right honourable friend is out in that part of the world at the
moment; that is part of the conversations that are going on. The
whole question of humanitarian aid is obviously uppermost in
people’s minds. We have already supplied more than 70 tonnes of
humanitarian aid, I think, but the difficulty is getting it into
Gaza, of course. The Rafah entrance point is under severe
congestion and there are stockpiles of aid ready to go in. One
reason why conversations are going on at the moment is to see
whether any other route can be negotiated with the Israel Defence Forces
and the Israeli Government to get aid into Gaza; every avenue is
being looked at.
(Con)
My Lords, the key test in granting export licences is criterion
2C of the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria, which focuses on
whether
“there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or
facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian
law”.
Can my noble friend the Minister tell the House whether criterion
2C has been considered in granting arms exports to Israel
The (Con)
My Lords, on the supply of military equipment to Israel I can assure
the House that no offensive military equipment has been delivered
since 7 October. We do not have an enormously large export
business with the Israelis in that respect anyway; it is between
£40 million and £45 million. We have provided medical equipment
at their request. In relation to ensuring adherence to
international humanitarian law, we continue to push at the
highest level for Israel to comply with
international humanitarian law. We would engage
with Israel if we observed
any activity to the contrary.
(Con)
My Lords, as we still have time, can I ask another question? When
the UQ was held in the Commons, the Secretary of State said that
74 tonnes had been delivered to Egypt, I think; of course, as my
noble friend has just said, that is not much good if it is not
getting to Gaza. Has any of those 74 tonnes got to Gaza yet? If
not, what action are we taking to ensure that they do?
The (Con)
As my noble friend will know, there is a great stockpile of
humanitarian aid ready to go in across a whole range of things,
such as wound care packs, water filters, solar panels, lights,
equipment, fork-lifts, conveyor belts and lighting towers. All
sorts of things are ready to go in but the challenge is getting
them approved and checked. I cannot give an absolute assurance as
to how much has got in; I will find out and write when I can.
