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Gaza

My Lords, let me say to the noble Baroness, Lady Tonge, that I did say, when repeating the Statement that the Foreign Secretary made in the other place, that there would need to be an investigation of these allegations. Let me be clear that Mrs Pillay’s charges seem to refer to some very specific actions; they refer not to the general conduct of the conflict but to particular incidents that have been reported. Those incidents, as the Foreign Secretary said, cause great concern and will require investigation. The issue is the timing of that investigation. In 2002, the incidents in Jenin similarly provoked an international investigation. In a sense, that investigation failed, because it was denied access and became politicised as a propaganda tool in the conflict, used by both sides. There is a question of timing and of hard evidence needing to be assembled, but I can say confidently that clearly some of the incidents in this conflict on both sides will be the subject of intensive international human rights investigation.