That the Parliament recognises what it considers to be the urgent need for the international community to take action to address the reported scale of acute child hunger and malnutrition in the Gaza Strip; notes the finding by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) that more than 50,000 children require treatment for acute malnutrition in Gaza; expresses concern at reports that hospitals across Gaza are considered to be at breaking point due to supply shortages and patient influxes; notes that UNICEF reports that an estimated 3,000 children in southern Gaza have been cut off from accessing treatment for malnutrition; understands that treatment for acute malnutrition usually necessitates between six and eight weeks of uninterrupted care, and that only two of the three stabilisations centres in Gaza that are able to provide this care are still functioning; believes that efforts to distribute food and medical aid to assist these children have been constrained by the ongoing fighting, and have been hampered by the limited number of trucks that are allowed access to Gaza and what it considers to be the high risk to aid workers in distributing them; condemns reported attacks on aid workers; notes reports that Israel’s ground and air campaign has killed more than 39,000 people since 7 October 2023, and that 70% of these have been women or children; welcomes the UK Government’s decision to restore funding to UNRWA to spend on food, emergency shelter and other basic services, and urges the UK Government to engage in diplomatic action towards securing a sustainable and durable ceasefire, and to double efforts to ensure that what it considers to be vital supplies reach the Gaza Strip.
Supported by:
Karen Adam, Miles Briggs, Bob Doris, Jackie Dunbar, Christine Grahame, Bill Kidd, Fulton MacGregor, Ben Macpherson, Stuart McMillan, Pauline McNeill, Alex Rowley, Paul Sweeney