UK pledges further £19m for Gaza Strip

The UK has pledged a further £19 million in funding for Gaza, as a minister described the situation on the ground as “catastrophic”.

Development minister Anneliese Dodds will travel to the Occupied Palestinan Territories and Israel as part of a three-day trip that starts with a humanitarian conference in Cairo on Monday.

The fresh funding will take the UK’s total committed for the Occupied Palestinan Territories to £99 million, the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office said, and includes £12 million for the UN’s Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the World Food Programme.

Hostages

Ms Dodds is expected to meet Palestinan prime minister Mohammad Mustafa and visit a refugee camp in the West Bank as part of her trip, before heading to Israel where she will hold meetings with officials and call on Israel to ensure aid can reach Gaza.

She is also expected to meet the families of UK and UK-linked hostages in Israel as the Government continues to call for hostages to be freed.

Catastrophic

Ms Dodds said: “The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. Gazans are in desperate need of food and shelter with the onset of winter.

“The Cairo conference will be an opportunity to get leading voices in one room and put forward real-world solutions to the humanitarian crisis.

“The UK is committed to supporting the region’s most vulnerable communities, pledging additional funding for UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) and to supporting the Palestinian Authority reforms.

“Israel must immediately act to ensure unimpeded aid access to Gaza. I will meet counterparts both in Israel and the OPTs to discuss the need to remove these impediments, bring about a ceasefire, free the hostages and find a lasting solution to the conflict.”