Full exchange: Mhairi Black grills Sunak over Gaza humanitarian crisis

Mar black thank you Mr Speaker yesterday the UN warned that hospitals in Gaza had just 48 Hours of fuel left to keep their electricity going that was 28 hours ago the electricity runs out tonight now we have a human responsibility to all the people in Gaza but we have a particular responsibility for UK citizens some of whom are in those hospitals with no food no water no medicine and no way out so I want to ask the Prime Minister how much worse does the situation have to get before he will join us in calls for a humanitarian ceasefire M Mr Speaker the from the start we have said that the first and most important principle is that Israel has the right to defend itself under international law our support for that position is absolute and unchanged uh but from the start we have also said that we do want British Nationals to be able to leave Gaza and that we want hostages for to be released and for humanitarian Aid to get in and we recognize that for all of that to happen there has to be a safer environment which of course necessitates specific pauses as distinct from a ceasefire and we discussed this with Partners yesterday evening at the United Nations and we have also been consistently clear that everything must be done to protect civilians in line with international law and continue getting more Aid flowing into Gaza Mar black Mr Speaker the the growing calls a ceasefire is also about calming the situation in the broader region especially the West Bank UNICEF has reported over 2,000 fatalities and over 5,000 injured children since the conflict began due to unrelenting attacks if we ignore this we risk pouring petrol on a fire in a place that only requires a spark to ignite yeah yeah can the Prime Minister understand that joining calls for a ceasefire is now the best and maybe the only way to stop this conflict escalating beyond all control Mr speakers we do worth have to remember that Israel has suffered a shockingly brutal T Hamas is responsible for this conflict and is has the right to protect itself in line with international law as the UN Charter makes clear we will continue to urge the Israelis to follow international law H whilst we also have to remember that heras cruy embeds itself in civilian populations but we are doing everything we can to get Aid into the region I'm pleased to say an RAF flight left the UK this morning for Egypt carrying 21 tons of aid for Gaza the relief supplies include over 75,000 medical kits solar lights water filters for families and warehousing equipment our team are on the ground ready to receive we will continue to do everything we can to increase the flow of Aid including fuel into Gaza

Channel: The Independent

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Id: jwo2zI8ItRw

Length: 2min 55sec (175 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 25 2023