Sarah Smith

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. I am very grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy (Melanie Ward) for securing this much-needed debate. We have seen 44,000 children being treated for malnutrition, 2,146 people killed while seeking aid, 131 children killed by a man-made famine, and 5,700 acres of land stolen by the Israeli army in the last three months alone in the west bank. The violence in the west bank is repellent, and a flood of aid—no less—is required in Gaza. I think we all now struggle to find the words to articulate just how horrific what is happening in Gaza and across the west bank truly is. I will use my time to ask some questions of the Minister. President Trump is due in the UK next week, and he has said that he is not happy with the “real starvation” he is seeing. How can we further work with the US Administration to encourage Israel to open up the Occupied Palestinian Territories to aid at scale and at an unhindered pace? Ministers have stated that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is “incompatible with the principles that underpin our bilateral relationship”—[Official Report, 20 May 2025; Vol. 767, c. 924.] and they are prepared to take “further action”. As the road map on UK-Israel relations is being reviewed, what further action can be taken now to help alleviate the immediate humanitarian catastrophe?