Israel obstructing the work of Gaza’s primary aid agency will have “very severe consequences” on the humanitarian situation facing the region, Foreign Office minister Anneliese Dodds has said.
During an urgent question in the Commons, Ms Dodds faced calls from both sides of the House to sanction Israeli ministers involved in the implementation of two new laws that could see the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) banned from operating on Israeli soil.
The laws, which will not come into effect immediately, would effectively bar UNRWA from working in Gaza or the West Bank where access is controlled by Israel.
Labour MP Clive Betts (Sheffield South East) told MPs the move by Israel to ban UNRWA “is beyond excuses”.
“This is potentially an act of deliberate policy to destroy the most effective aid route into Gaza,” he said.
He added: “I come back to the issue of sanctions. If Israeli ministers decide to implement this Bill, aren’t they effectively engaging in an act of warfare by starvation? This is a breach of humanitarian law.
“Are we going to take sanctions against those Israeli ministers who get involved in promoting this policy?”
Ms Dodds replied: “There is no doubt that there will be very severe consequences if the work of UNRWA is indeed obstructed. It’s very clear that it’s only UNRWA that has the depth of reach that is required to get the aid needed to those in such desperate need.”
She added: “When it comes to sanctions, (Mr Betts) will understand that no UK Government announces exactly what it is doing around sanctions, that is appropriate and correct. We will always keep our sanctions policies under review, as this House would expect.”
Ms Dodds said “jeopardising” UNRWA’s mandate and its ability to carry out lifesaving work is “unacceptable”.
She told the House of Commons: “Removing UNRWA from the equation would make an already unacceptable humanitarian situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) far worse.
“It also undermines, of course, the work of the United Nations more widely.
“We’re working closely with our international partners to urge the Israeli government to step back from the brink and ensure that the legislation passed yesterday in the Knesset does not stop UNRWA being able to carry out its vital role in the OPTs.”
Ms Dodds added: “We will continue to use every lever we have to put pressure on the Israeli government not to implement this legislation.”
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn told MPs that Israel is “once again choosing to block aid to a civilian population that it is bombing” a move he said amounted to “collective punishment”.
He asked: “Can the minister outline a single red line that Israel can cross that would lead her to question their status as an ally of the United Kingdom?”
Ms Dodds referred to the Government’s decision to end 30 of some 350 arms export licences to Israel, stating: “We believe it is really important that international law is held to and this Government has been delivering on that.”
Conservative former minister Simon Hoare said it is “surely naive” for the Government to assume Israel will not implement its ban on UNRWA, and the state is now “diplomatically flying solo”.
“Despite the very strong urgings of the United States, the United Kingdom, the EU and others, the Israeli parliament voted for the Bill, knowing full well what the collective international view was towards that proposal,” he said.
“Does the Government now realise that the Israeli government and indeed parliament is effectively diplomatically flying solo when it comes to these issues?
“And if, as we all believe, there is no other agency that can step in at pace and at scale to deliver the aid which is clearly needed, then, as the leader of the SNP – an unlikely bedfellow for me – said, is this now not verging on the definition of collective punishment, and the Government can no longer just either wring its hands or urge?”
Ms Dodds replied: “We have joined with allies, as he rightly mentioned in expressing our deep concern about this.
“We will continue to push very hard on this indeed, because we understand what the consequences are if there is not continued ability for UNRWA to operate.”
In July, the Government announced it would overturn the suspension of UK funding to UNRWA.
The Foreign Office initially paused any future funding for UNRWA in January after allegations that staff from the aid organisation had been involved in the October 7 2023 Hamas attack which began the latest outbreak of violence in the Middle East.
Catherine Colonna, the French former foreign affairs minister, led an independent review group to assess whether UNRWA was “doing everything within its power to ensure neutrality”.
