Thank you to all those who have contacted me about funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

Following serious allegations against 12 UNRWA employees of involvement in the terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel on 7 October 2023, the UK Government has, alongside several other countries, suspended funding for UNRWA. The UN has suspended these workers.

These allegations are incredibly serious. It is vital that the British Government has robust processes in place regarding the use of UK aid.

The UK Government states it will follow the UN investigation closely and that, up until the point at which the Government is satisfied, the pause in funding will remain in place.

Given the terrible humanitarian situation facing civilians in Gaza, it would be wrong for anything to impede crucial aid reaching those in need. The next UK allocation to UNRWA is due in the next financial year, and I do not want to see any interruption to the flow of UK funding at that time.

The role of UNRWA is central to the humanitarian effort in Gaza. UNRWA’s work is essential, especially when we remember that more people are dying from hunger and thirst in Gaza than from bombs and bullets. If this vital work is disrupted, the consequences for the people of Gaza will undoubtedly be further death and suffering.

More widely, I pay tribute to aid agencies working in Gaza. They are doing a tremendous and valuable job in the most difficult circumstances. It has been particularly distressing to discover that aid workers, including some of those employed by UNRWA, are among the thousands of civilians killed in Gaza in recent months.

The horrors which we have witnessed in recent months have been intolerable. Millions are displaced, desperate and hungry. That is why I have an enduring hope that we will see an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, and that this ceasefire will be sustained.

The need for a truce is urgent. Hamas must release all hostages, we must see much greater access to humanitarian aid in Gaza, settler violence and displacement in the West Bank must end, and the work of intense diplomacy should begin to set new terms under which the viable prospect of a two-state solution emerges. That is the only means of guaranteeing safety and security for both the Israeli and Palestinian people, and the international community will need to invest every effort into re-establishing a political pathway to peace.