With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will make a statement about the conflict in Gaza.
In January, I outlined to the House the deal agreed between Israel and Hamas. It was a moment of huge hope and relief.
In the weeks that followed, hostages cruelly detained by Hamas were reunited with their families and aid blocked by Israel finally flooded into Gaza. A path out of this horrendous conflict appeared open.
It is therefore a matter of deep regret to have to update the House today on a breakdown of that ceasefire and yet more bloodshed in Gaza.
On the night of 18 March, Israel launched airstrikes across Gaza. A number of Hamas figures were reportedly killed.
But it has been reported that over 400 Palestinians were killed in missile strikes and artillery barrages, the majority of them women and children.
This appears to have been the deadliest single day for Palestinians since the war began. This is an appalling loss of life and we mourn the loss of every civilian.
Yesterday morning, a UN compound in Gaza was hit. I can confirm to the House that a British National was amongst the wounded. Our priority is supporting them and their family at this time.
Gaza has been the most dangerous place in the world to be an aid worker.
I share the outrage of UN Secretary-General Guterres at this incident. The Government calls for a transparent investigation and for those responsible to be held to account.
The UK is now working closely with partners such as France and Germany, to send a clear message.
We strongly oppose Israel’s resumption of hostilities. We urgently want to see a return to a ceasefire. More bloodshed is in no-one’s interest. Hamas must release all the hostages and negotiations must resume.
Madam Deputy Speaker, diplomacy is the only way to achieve security for both Israelis and Palestinians.
The House will know that the ceasefire in Gaza had lasted for almost two months, the result of dogged efforts by Egypt, Qatar and the United States.
The deal reached in January saw the nightmare of captivity end for 30 hostages and the bodies of 8 further victims of Hamas returned to their loved ones.
We all remember the joy of seeing Emily Damari reunited with her mother and family, and the desperately-needed aid had begun to flow back into Gaza – food, medicines, fuel and tents.
Children in Gaza had respite from relentless fear. The severely injured could cross the border again for treatment. Palestinians had begun to return to their homes and consider how to rebuild their lives.
In the first days of the ceasefire, the UK moved swiftly to invest in the peace.
We released £17m in additional emergency humanitarian funding for the promised surge in aid, bringing our total support this year for Palestinians across the region to £129m.
We accelerated work on the pathway to reconstruction, supporting our Arab partners’ very welcome recent initiative.
We worked at every level to support negotiations for a permanent ceasefire and the return of every single hostage and backed an extension to phase one of the current deal.
But negotiations have been gridlocked for several weeks.
Hamas has been resisting calls for the release of further hostages in return for a longer truce and Israeli forces did not begin to withdraw from the Philadelphi corridor as agreed.
On 2 March, the Israeli government announced it was blocking all further aid deliveries until Hamas agreed to its terms.
For weeks now, supplies of basic goods and electricity have been blocked, leaving over half a million civilians once again cut off from clean drinking water and sparking a 200% surge in the price of some basic foodstuffs – a boon to those criminals who use violence to control supplies.
As I told the House on Monday, this is appalling and unacceptable.
Ultimately, of course, these are matters for the courts, not governments, to determine but it’s difficult to see how denying humanitarian assistance to a civilian population can be compatible with international humanitarian law.
Though it’s important to say I could have been a little clearer in the House on Monday, our position remains that Israel’s actions in Gaza are at clear risk of breaching international humanitarian law.
The consequences of the ceasefire’s breakdown, Madam Deputy Speaker, are catastrophic.
For the family and friends of the remaining 59 hostages, including Avinatan Or, the agony goes on.
Hamas’ kidnapping of these people, their treatment of them in captivity, the cruel theatre of their release, depriving them of food and basic rights, these are acts of despicable cruelty.
Hamas must release them all now.
And Palestinian civilians, who have already endured so much, now must fear a rerun and a return to days of death, deprivation and destruction.
Civilians have once again been issued with evacuation orders by Israel.
Only 4% of the UN Flash Appeal is funded – not even enough to get through to the end of this month.
Health centres have had to close, even as the devastated Gazan health service has to treat another surge of those wounded in strikes.
Madam Deputy Speaker, Hamas can have no role in Gaza’s future.
A collapsed ceasefire will not bring the hostages home to their families.
An endless conflict will not bring long term security to Israel.
And a deepening war will only set back the cause of regional normalisation and risk further instability – shortly after the Houthis resumed their unacceptable threats to shipping in the Red Sea.
Madam Deputy Speaker, since the renewed outbreak of hostilities, I have spoken to Secretary Rubio, to EU High Representative Kallas, to UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher. And I will shortly speak to my Israeli counterpart Gideon Sa’ar and Palestinian Prime Minister Mustafa.
We and our partners need to persuade the parties that this conflict cannot be resolved by military means.
We want Israel and Hamas to re-engage with negotiations.
We continue to condemn Hamas, of course, for their actions on October 7th, their refusal to release the hostages, and their ongoing threat to Israel.
But we are also resolute in calling on Israel to abide by international law and to lift the unacceptable restrictions on aid and demand the protection of civilians.
Many months ago, only weeks into office, I concluded that there was a clear risk of Israel breaching international humanitarian law in Gaza.
It was this risk that I first set out to this House in September which meant that the Government suspended relevant export licences for items for use by the IDF in military operations in Gaza.
The actions of the last three weeks only reinforce that conclusion.
Madam Deputy Speaker, in the days and weeks ahead, we will redouble our efforts to restore a ceasefire.
But we will also continue to work with our partners on the security, governance and reconstruction arrangements. Those issues are not going away.
There remains no military solution to this conflict. A two-state solution remains the only path to a just and lasting peace.
At this dispatch box in January, I called the ceasefire deal a glimmer of light in the darkness. It feels like the darkness has returned.
Former British hostage Emily Damari said the resumption of fighting left her heart “broken, crushed and disappointed”. I am sure she speaks for the whole House.
But we must preserve hope. For the sake of the remaining hostages and their loved ones, for the people of Gaza, for the future of two peoples that have suffered so much for so long, we will keep striving for a return to the path of peace.
I commend this statement to the House.
