Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)

The issue with F35s is that their components are provided on a pooled basis. My understanding is that, if we stopped their provision, there are other situations in which there would be an outcome that we would not want to see. I really agree with my noble friend on the issue of the provision of aid and the way that the Israeli Government have chosen to go about it. When this idea was first suggested, we expressed our concerns. We said that we did not believe that aid could be distributed safely or at sufficient scale to meet the need—and it has not. This was foreseeable; it was predicted; it was avoidable. It is fixable. We could get the aid in very quickly now, but we need the Government of Israel to agree to that. I think there is more aid getting in than there had been at various points, but still nowhere near enough. Once you have famine starting, it is not simply a case of “Get some more aid in and all will be well”. The effects take some time, and given the medical attention that is now needed, I fear that we are about to see the cascade effect that happens when you enter famine. As others have said, you also see the increased prevalence of diseases, which are no respecters of borders. This is a dire situation, where we need the food and medical supplies to enter Gaza as quickly as possible.