Beth Winter MP challenges Foreign Office response to Jenin assault

The following Urgent Question was asked to the Foreign Office Minister in the House of Commons on Tuesday 4 July.

(Urgent Question):To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs if he will make a statement on the violence in the West Bank.

The past 24 hours have seen a horrifying military assault by the Israel Defence Forces on the overcrowded refugee camp in Jenin.

The UN Refugee Agency says that about 15,000 people live in less than half a square kilometre in the camp, yet we have all witnessed on our screens the Israel Defence Forces launching air attacks, including attacks from drones, and they have sent in hundreds, if not thousands, of ground troops in the largest military action in the West Bank for 20 years.

News agencies are reporting 10 deaths of Palestinians, including three children, and 100 Palestinians injured, while the Palestinian Red Crescent says that it has evacuated 3,000 people. The UN’s Vanessa Huguenin has said:

“We are alarmed at the scale of air and ground operations that are taking place in Jenin”.

The World Health Organisation has said:

“First responders have been prevented from entering the refugee camp”.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority leadership has resolved to

“immediately petition the UN Security Council to implement Resolution 2334 and the relevant resolutions on providing international protection to the Palestinian people, stopping unilateral measures, and imposing sanctions on the occupying power.”

The UK currently holds the presidency of the UN Security Council and is therefore responsible for guiding its response to requests made by the Palestinian Authority.

May I therefore ask the following questions?

What are the UK Government doing in their capacity as President of the UN Security Council?

How have they responded at the UN to the Palestinian Authority’s call for international protection?

What has the Foreign Office said to its Israeli counterpart about the Israel Defence Forces preventing medical staff from accessing the Jenin refugee camp, or firing tear gas into hospitals sheltering children and elderly residents?

Finally, what steps will the Foreign Secretary take to review whether the IDF have made any use of UK arms sold to Israel in this attack?

Will he immediately suspend all arms sales, including surveillance technology, and will he ban collaboration between the UK and Israel’s armed forces and military industries as a result of this horrific attack on civilians?