Lizzi Collinge

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms McVey. Gaza is in ruins. Almost everything needed to sustain life—homes, businesses, farmland—has been reduced to rubble. The international responsibility is clear: provide aid, restore essential services and help Palestinians reclaim control over their future. For peace to last, we cannot just focus on the absence of violence; we also need to rebuild the foundations of long-term stability. Gaza’s people need long-term support and the opportunity to rebuild their lives, even when global attention has shifted. That means enabling Palestinians to play a central role in rebuilding their lives and institutions, because reconstruction must include both physical infrastructure but also civic systems that ensure that Palestinians can govern themselves freely. The Israeli Government must abandon the stranglehold they have on Palestinian aid. Despite their pledge to allow in humanitarian relief, they are still blocking desperately needed supplies. Aid must reach Gaza, alongside the restoration of critical infrastructure, such as electricity and water treatment, and public services. Only then can the larger task of reconstruction move forward.