The Chair of the International Development Committee has today
written to incoming Foreign Secretary (attached), requesting an
urgent response within a week, following “harrowing” evidence
in Parliament from groups
operating on the front line in Gaza: UNRWA, the Norwegian
Refugee Council, Medical Aid for Palestinians and Human Rights
Watch.
All four organisations were unanimous that the humanitarian
situation in Gaza is worsening “not just by the days or weeks,
but by the hours and minutes.” The letter pays tribute to all the
aid organisations working around the clock in Gaza to try
to provide vital humanitarian assistance. To date, 102 UNRWA
staff have lost their lives, the highest number of UN fatalities
ever recorded in a single conflict.
Chair of the IDC
said:
“Since 7 October, almost six weeks ago, less than three days'
worth of aid has entered Gaza. The respected agencies we heard
from told us that it is becoming impossible to deliver what
little humanitarian aid there is due to a lack of fuel, lost
communications and the fact that there is no safe space. They
cannot even ensure the safety of their own staff or the people
sheltering with them.
“The fuel that has been permitted to enter Gaza is not permitted
for use for the most basic necessities of human life: to provide
clean water or support medical facilities. Hospitals in Gaza have
been hit by strikes from air and the ground and two-thirds of
them are no longer functioning. Demand for those that remain far
exceeds what exhausted medical staff can provide and with no
assured safe routes for those evacuating, it is unclear where
exactly the sick and injured are meant to go. Dangerously
overcrowded shelters are becoming hotbeds for the transmission of
yet more, devastating disease. Gaza has become a graveyard for
children, with parents writing their family name on their
children’s limbs so that aid workers will know to bury them
together. Over 5,000 women are due to give birth in these
conditions by the end of November.
"This is unimaginable suffering. In Gaza we have lost sight of
the most basic principles of humanity and proportionality. The
first priority must be to immediately get aid and fuel into Gaza
and we need the conditions for that right now.
“The Committee has already published a report on the long-term
issues once Palestinians are able to leave Gaza. There will be a
huge impact on the surrounding countries, many of them already
hosting displaced people from other humanitarian crises in the
region. The UK has an historical imperative to play its part in
humanitarian support for those who are in Gaza now, and to plan
to support the people of Gaza for the months and years ahead.
This crisis has deep roots, and sadly, the consequence will not
be resolved quickly.”/ENDS
