With permission, Mr Speaker, I will make a statement on the Middle East.
After over a year of horrifying violence, civilian suffering has increased, the conflict has widened, the risks of a yet wider regional war have risen.
Today, Mr Speaker, I want to address three elements of this crisis, and outline the urgent steps the Government’s taking in response.
Mr Speaker, I will first consider events over the weekend. Targeted Israeli strikes hit military sites inside Iran, including a missile manufacturer and an air defence base.
This was in response to Iran’s escalatory ballistic missile attacks on Israel condemned across the House. These attacks were the latest in a long history of malign Iranian activity. Its nuclear programme, with their total enriched uranium stockpile now reported by the IAEA to be thirty times the JCPoA limit. And political, financial and military support for militias, including Hizballah and Hamas.
Let me be clear. The Government unequivocally condemns Iranian attacks on Israel. This Government has imposed three rounds of sanctions on Iranian individuals and organisations responsible for malign activity, most recently on the fourteenth of October. And we have consistently supported Israel’s right to defend itself against Iranian attacks, and attacks by Iranian-backed terrorists, whose goal is the complete eradication of the Israeli state. We do not mourn the deaths of the heads of proscribed terrorist organisations.
The priority now is immediate de-escalation. Iran should not respond. All sides must exercise restraint. We do not wish to see the cycle of violence intensifying, dragging the whole region into a war with severe consequences. Escalation is in no one’s interest as it risks spreading the regional conflict further. We and our partners have been passing this message clearly and consistently. Yesterday, Mr Speaker, I spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Aragchi and Israeli Foreign Minister Katz and urged both countries to show restraint and avoid further regional escalation.
Mr Speaker, let me turn to the devastating situation in northern Gaza, where the United Nations estimates over four hundred thousand Palestinian civilians remain.
Access to essential services worsen by the day. Yet still, very little aid is being allowed in. Israel’s evacuation order in the north has displaced tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians. Driven from destruction, disease, and despair. To destruction, disease and despair. Nine in ten Gazans have been displaced since the war began. Some have had to flee more than ten times in the past year. What must parents say to their children? How can they explain this living nightmare? How can they reassure it will ever end?
There is no excuse for Israeli’s government’s ongoing restrictions on humanitarian assistance – they must let more aid in now. Aid is backed up at Gaza’s borders. In many cases funded by the UK and our partners. But now stuck, out of reach of those who need it so desperately. These restrictions fly in the face of Israel’s public commitments. They risk violating international humanitarian law. They are a rebuke to every friend of Israel, who month after month have demanded action to address the catastrophic conditions facing Palestinian civilians. So let me be clear once again. This Government condemns these restrictions in the strongest terms.
Since our first day in office, the Government has led efforts to bring this nightmare to an end. We have announced funding for UK-Med’s efforts to provide medical treatment in Gaza, for UNICEF’s work to support vulnerable families in Gaza, for Egyptian health facilities treating medically evacuated Palestinians from Gaza.
We are matching donations to the Disaster Emergency Committee’s Middle East Humanitarian Appeal. And, together with France and Algeria, we called an emergency UN Security Council meeting to address the dire situation. We sanctioned extremist settlers, making clear their actions do not serve the real interests of either Israel or the region.
And we have moved quickly to restore funding to UNRWA, overturning the position of the last Government. We did that to support UNRWA’s indispensable role in assisting Palestinians, and to enable them to implement the recommendations of the independent Colonna report.
All over the world, in every war zone, every refugee camp, the United Nations is a beacon of hope. And so it’s a matter of profound regret that the Israeli parliament is considering shutting down UNRWA’s operations. The allegations against UNRWA staff earlier this year were fully investigated, and offer no justification for cutting off ties with UNRWA.
This weekend, we therefore joined partners in expressing concerns at the Knesset’s legislation, and urged Israel to ensure UNRWA’s lifesaving work continues. We call on UNRWA to continue its path to reform, demonstrating its commitment to the principle of neutrality.
And finally, Mr Speaker, I will cover the conflict in Lebanon. A country that has endured so much in my lifetime and now sees fighting escalate once again, killing many civilians, and forcing hundreds of thousands from their homes. While in northern Israel, communities live in fear of Hizballah attacks, unable to return home.
Here too, the Government has led efforts to respond. Our swift call for an immediate ceasefire was taken up by our partners and in the United Nations Security Council. The Defence Secretary and I have visited Lebanon, where Britain’s ongoing support for the Lebanese Armed Forces is widely recognised as an investment in a sovereign and effective Lebanese state.
At the start of October, I announced ten million pounds for the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon. Last week, my Right Honourable Friend Minister Dodds announced further funding for the most vulnerable amongst those fleeing from Lebanon into Syria, while my Honourable Friend Minister Falconer joined the Lebanon Support Conference in Paris. And today, my Right Honourable Friend the Prime Minister will meet Prime Minister Mikati to reassure him of our support.
Mr Speaker, across the region, our priorities are clear. De-escalation. Humanitarian assistance. Immediate ceasefires. Upholding international law. Political solutions.
This is how we save lives. How we liberate hostages, like British national Emily Damari. And how we pull the region back from the brink.
The Government has stepped up our diplomatic engagement to this end. The Prime Minister has spoken directly to both Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Pezeshkian. While I have made five visits to the region in just four months, held around fifty calls and meetings with Ministers and leaders in the region, and spoke this weekend to US Secretary Blinken, just back from the region.
Mr Speaker, it is a source of deep frustration that these efforts have not yet succeeded. We have no illusions about the deep-seated divisions in this region. A region scarred by fighting and false dawns in the past. But it is never too late for peace. Never too late for hope.
This Government will not give up on the people of the region. We will keep playing our part in achieving a lasting solution. So that, one day, they might all live side by side in peace and security.
I commend this statement to the House.