UK ‘stepping up’ aid efforts for Gaza with ‘medical support’ as focus

The Department for International Development (DfID) has said it is “stepping up” its aid efforts in Gaza, with a focus on providing “additional medical support”.

The announcement from International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt came on Thursday in response to a question in the House of Commons from the senior Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael.

The Scottish MP said Israeli forces had shot and killed three Palestinian health workers “whilst trying to reach, treat and evacuate wounded demonstrators”. He added that another 600 health workers had been injured.

Mordaunt said the Government “have stepped up our offer [of humanitarian aid work] in particular looking at providing additional medical support”.

In December, the Government said it was providing an additional £5 million in emergency food aid to 62,000 Palestinian refugees in Gaza “who are at risk of going hungry”.

Bags of flour, rice, sugar, chickpeas, sunflower oil, whole milk, lentils and canned sardines were provided “to counter food supply problems affecting refugees who are unable to afford rising food prices in Gaza”.

The UK already gives the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) more than £60 million annually but Middle East Minister Alistair Burt recently said he was “concerned about the worsening situation in the Gaza Strip”.