International Aid Workers: Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Question

14:58:00

Asked by

To ask His Majesty’s Government what representations they are making to the government of Israel about the impact of visa restrictions on international aid workers to that country and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

My Lords, we are concerned by reports of humanitarian agencies being unable to do their jobs because of visa restrictions. As the Prime Minister has said, there can be no more excuses from the Israeli Government on humanitarian assistance. He and the Foreign Secretary have repeatedly pressed Israeli leaders to deliver on their promise to flood Gaza with aid, so we call on Israel to co-operate fully with the UN and other humanitarian agencies to facilitate visas and make provisions for humanitarians to carry out their work safely and effectively. Restricting their work is not acceptable.

I thank the Minister for her Answer. Does she agree that, as the occupying power, Israel has a duty under international law to ensure adequate provision of food and medical supplies to the people of Gaza? Does she also agree that both the current and the former Governments have repeatedly urged Israel to comply with those obligations, yet obstruction to humanitarian assistance continues? Is it not time for the Government to make it clear that, unless this changes, sanctions will be applied to the responsible Israeli Ministers?

My Lords, as I have already said, we have concerns. Our priorities for humanitarian action in Gaza are to protect the civilian population with an immediate effort to prepare them for winter, to ensure effective and safe aid distribution in Gaza, to increase the volume and types of goods reaching Gaza and to enable fully the UN and its agencies, including UNRWA.

My Lords, does the Minister accept that the efficacy of representations made by His Majesty’s Government is likely to be reduced given that they have made it plain that they will enforce the warrant issued by the International Criminal Court?

My Lords, I think that our attempts to influence the Israeli Government in this regard should have nothing to do with the ICC ruling. We are making arguments about saving lives, ensuring that there is medical treatment and that children get fed.

My Lords, your Lordships’ House will be aware of the commitment of the noble Lord, Lord Oates, to the eradication of malnutrition and hunger worldwide and the work he has done on it, for which I commend him. On that issue, the Government of Israel promised to “flood” Gaza with aid, yet essential supplies are still being restricted. What representations are our Government making to their Israeli counterparts to ensure that the Israelis meet this commitment so that aid that is desperately needed reaches its destination?

My Lords, we are using all our diplomatic efforts to get aid into Gaza, because the situation is becoming urgent as we approach winter. Some 1.9 million displaced people are living in just 57 square kilometres in the south of Gaza. The Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Minister Dodds and Minister Falconer have raised this urgent situation and will continue to do so.

My Lords, it is very clear that representations are not enough; direct engagement is required with both the Government of Israel and the Governments of Egypt and Jordan. First, what specific meetings have been held, in country and at a ministerial level? Secondly, as I have discussed before, during the previous Government, we sought out-of-the-box thinking, not just on land routes, which are of course the major delivery mechanism, but on maritime and air routes. Has any work been done in that regard?

The noble Lord is completely right that this is the moment when we need out-of-the-box thinking, and we are looking at every available avenue. We have been working with the Government of Egypt to try to provide medical assistance, and we have been a major donor to that work. We are doing everything that we can. As I said, the Government-to-Government connections are being used as much as possible, because this problem is getting worse by the day, and we need action to save lives.

My Lords, what specific steps are being taken to call on Israel to act consistently with its obligations under the Charter of the United Nations and its other obligations under international humanitarian law?

The right reverend Prelate is right to raise this question. We work using every channel we can and every lever available to us, and in a way that we hope maximises the chance of all this engagement having an impact. We have always said that Israel needs to act within international humanitarian law. As much as it has every right to defend itself, we are increasingly concerned, as the days and weeks progress, about what is happening, particularly in Gaza but also in Lebanon. As the UK Government, we will continue to work to bring about the access we need so that aid can get to the people who really need it.

My Lords, the Israeli Government have banned UNRWA from operating in Israel due to the number of its staff involved in the 7 October attack. Considering this information, can the Minister tell us why this Government chose to resume funding to UNRWA?

As the noble Lord should know—perhaps his noble friend might like to remind him—UNRWA is the only viable way to get aid into Gaza at the scale that is needed now. We understand the concerns of the Israeli Government, which were investigated. We resumed funding because we have an approaching crisis; many thousands of people are about to lose their lives unless aid gets into Gaza.

My Lords, the United Nations aid agencies, the International Criminal Court and human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch all say that what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank is genocide. The Pope says it is genocide. In the circumstances, does the Minister agree that to talk of humanitarian aid while supplying weapons to assist in the genocide is nothing short of hypocrisy?

My Lords, I am very careful about the use of the word “genocide”. It is not a word that should be bandied around by any politician. Genocide is for a court to determine. That has not happened, and unless and until it does, I will not refer to this as genocide.

My Lords, there are numerous independent reports of sexual violence being perpetrated against imprisoned Palestinian aid workers and medics. The worst, tragic reported case is of a male orthopaedic surgeon who was allegedly raped to death. What specific actions have our Government taken to ensure that reported cases are documented and preserved in accordance with the Government’s International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict, with the purpose of supporting future investigations into sexual violence as a crime under international law?

The noble Baroness is right to highlight what has been happening to health workers and aid workers. Almost 1,000 health workers and around 300 aid workers have been killed since October 2023. It is important that what happens is documented and recorded for the future, as she says.

My Lords—

My Lords—

My Lords, we will hear from the Liberal Democrats Benches.

My Lords, in light of the findings of the ICC that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and his former Minister intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival—including food, water, medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity—will the Government publish in full the legal advice they have received from their law officers regarding the situation in Gaza and the legality of UK export licensing of arms to Israel?

My Lords, as we have discussed at length previously, we have a fairly well-established way of looking at arms licensing. I am confident that the decisions that have been made in regard to licensing, where we have restricted some items, have been completely and wholly in line with the UK legislation.

My Lords, I am delighted to hear the Minister making the point that we need to be very careful about the use of the word “genocide”. I also urge that we be careful about words such as “famine” and “starvation” in this instance. Hyperbole is not going to help. The terrible hardship of the people of Gaza—perhaps the Minister can comment —seems to be blamed wholly on Israel in terms of aid. More than a million tonnes of aid have got through to Gaza, and there is a crisis of distribution. Can the Minister comment on the fact that Israel is in this instance being blamed for political reasons rather than out of humanitarian care for the ordinary people of Gaza, who are victims of Hamas and not of Israel?

My Lords, I am honestly not interested in having a big discussion about blame at this stage. Some 40% of the population of Gaza are under 15. I do not think that it is wrong to talk about starvation, when that is what is going to happen if aid does not get in. Aid not getting in is not a logistical problem; with regard to visas, it is a political problem—and it is a political problem that we as the UK Government want to do everything we can to see resolved.