Written question asked by Lord Hylton (Crossbench), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Baroness Verma (Conservative) on Monday, 31 January 2011.

Gaza

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the sufficiency of facilities for moving goods through the Kerem Shalom crossing point in the Gaza Strip.

Answer: Given that the Karni crossing is not permitted to operate at full capacity, and is reportedly set to close entirely, Kerem Shalom is the only crossing that can process significant volumes of goods into Gaza. Although we encourage Israel's efforts to expand the facilities at Kerem Shalom, we judge them to be insufficient to meet Gaza's economic and reconstruction import needs. The UK continues to call on Israel to fully implement their 20 June 2010 announcement to allow greater volumes of goods into Gaza, including ““dual-use”” materials for international reconstruction projects. We also encourage Israel's recent announcement on allowing limited exports from Gaza, and look forward to seeing its practical implementation, which will require further enhancements to Kerem Shalom's capacity.

Secondary information