The situation in Gaza is desperate. Many Palestinian civilians have been killed and there is an urgent need to get more aid to the people of Gaza to prevent a famine.

The UK is doing all it can to get as much food into Gaza as possible.

We frequently engage with a range of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working on the humanitarian and food insecurity crisis response in Sudan including international non-governmental organisations (INGO) Country Directors and representatives, and with the Sudan INGO and national non-governmental organisations (NNGO) Forum leads, to ensure that our programming and policy is well informed by INGO and NNGO perspectives. The UK last year provided £23.5 million to the UN-led Sudan Humanitarian Fund (SHF) to provide flexible, multi-sector support and which predominantly provides funding to NGOs; we will continue our support to the SHF this year too. We will provide £89 million to support Sudan over the year ahead, most of which will go towards humanitarian assistance. Exact budgets are in the process of being allocated. UK support will continue to be delivered through the UN and other trusted partners including some NGOs such as the Danish Refugee Council, Norwegian Refugee Council and Save the Children.

Almost 17.7 million people in Sudan (37 percent of the population) are thought to be experiencing acute food insecurity. This is likely to worsen in the coming months. On 15 March, UN OCHA released a White Note formally warning of the risk of conflict-induced famine. The number of people in emergency (IPC 4) levels of hunger is now expected to increase across Greater Darfur, Greater Kordofan, and in some areas of eastern Sudan; and some households are expected to face famine (IPC 5) in parts of West Darfur, Khartoum, and among displaced populations in Greater Darfur. In 2024/2025, UK ODA to Sudan will nearly double to £89 million, including funding to UNICEF, which will provide emergency and life-saving food assistance to support people particularly in hard-to reach areas in Sudan, including nutrition, water and hygiene services for 500,000 children under 5. The UK will also be working with the World Food Programme to assist in the provision of assorted food commodities to people in Sudan. The UK continues to push for improved humanitarian access into and within Sudan to assist people who are hungry.

Conditions in Gaza are desperate and civilians are suffering. It is now an immense issue. Water has still not been fully switched back on and famine is taking hold. The World Food Programme reports that 90% of people in northern Gaza are living on less than a meal a day. Will the right hon. Gentleman clearly outline what his Government are doing to alleviate the threat of famine and prevent its further spread?

The UK continues to push for improved humanitarian access into and within Sudan to assist people who are hungry. In 2024/2025, UK ODA to Sudan will nearly double to £89 million. This was announced during Minister Mitchell's visit to the Chad border this month, where he met refugees fleeing the conflict, including many displaced by hunger as well as violence. UK aid will include funding to UNICEF which will provide emergency and life-saving food assistance to support people particularly in hard-to reach areas; and the World Food Programme to assist over 285,000 beneficiaries for 6 months by providing 13,405 tons of assorted food commodities such cereals, pulses, oils and salt. Ultimately the best way to ensure people don't go hungry is for the violence to end, and the UK continues to do all we can to press the parties into a permanent ceasefire.

Across Tigray and other parts of northern Ethiopia, El Nino has caused drought that is affecting 4 million people. According to assessments from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, nearly 1.4 million people in Tigray will need immediate emergency food assistance because of drought. I witnessed firsthand the effects of this during my visit in February 2024. In response, I announced an additional £100 million to fund our Ending Preventable Deaths Programme, which will target three million people across Ethiopia including those who are most at risk in the northern regions. The UK also co-hosted a donor conference in Geneva on 16 April and successfully raised £610 million to meet humanitarian needs in Ethiopia.

Palestinians are facing a devastating and growing humanitarian crisis. The UK and our partners are stepping up our efforts to get aid in as quickly as possible by land, sea and air.

Israel must take action to allow more aid into Gaza, including scaling up the Jordan corridor, opening a crossing in northern Gaza (Karni, Erez or a new crossing point), fully opening Ashdod Port for aid delivery and increasing screening capacity at Kerem Shalom and Nitzana to seven days a week and extended hours.

The UK is doing all it can to get as much food into Gaza as possible. We recently announced that more than 2,000 tonnes of UK-funded food aid are being distributed by the World Food Programme on the ground. This is our largest delivery of aid to Gaza in this crisis. This follows 750 tonnes of UK funded food aid arriving in Gaza in December, delivered through the World Food Programme, followed by a second delivery of 315 tonnes in January.Last month the UK and Jordan also air-dropped life-saving food and medicines directly to the Tal Al-Hawa hospital in northern Gaza.

Food shortages in Ethiopia are at a critical level. Conflict and climate change have damaged crop production and driven people off their lands, leading over 3 million people into a state of critical food insecurity. In February 2024, I visited Ethiopia and witnessed the worsening humanitarian situation in the region. In response, I announced £100 million in new aid for our Ending Preventable Deaths Programme, which will support over three million people in affected regions.

The UK is committed to providing support to the most vulnerable and those in desperate need. We have already increased our humanitarian support this financial year to £74 million. This includes a £23 million contribution to the Productive Safety Net Programme that will reach a further 350,000 people living in extreme poverty across Ethiopia. Additionally, the UK recently announced £100 million of funding that includes providing lifesaving nutritional support.

Internal conflict, drought, and economic challenges are exacerbating humanitarian crises across Ethiopia. Famine risk in Tigray and elsewhere in Ethiopia increases as these factors are prolonged and if the international community does not expand humanitarian and development assistance. The UK recently increased our health, nutrition, water and sanitation, and protection programming across northern Ethiopia, including in Tigray. Since 2019, the UK has allocated more than £400 million to tackle humanitarian crises in Ethiopia.

The Famine Prevention and Humanitarian Crises Compact was agreed during the UK's G7 Presidency and we have provided our share of the $7 billion in humanitarian assistance to the countries one step from famine in 2021. We have also allocated a further £3 billion for humanitarian responses over the next three years. We continue to deliver on our policy commitments in the Compact. For example, we co-convened events at COP27 and the Riyadh Humanitarian Forum 2023 to discuss effective approaches to scaling up anticipatory action in fragile and conflict affected states and continue to work with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and others through our core funding.

The UK is committed to addressing the deteriorating food security and malnutrition situation across East Africa and beyond, with the potential for multiple famines in 2023. The UK will provide £156 million of humanitarian support in East Africa this financial year, supporting millions of people with life-saving aid. The UK is also working to raise the profile of this crisis with our international partners and to ensure a robust response from humanitarian and development actors including development banks.

The UK is committed to working with our partners to mobilise international action to avert famine in East Africa. The High-Level Task Force (HLTF) on Preventing Famine has advocated for famine prevention resources and improved access to people in need. We are working with partners to explore ways the HLTF can be reinvigorated to address the risk of famine.

The UK is committed to working with international partners to tackle food insecurity and prevent famine. The UK is committed to working with our partners to mobilise international action on famine prevention. The High-Level Task Force (HLTF) on Preventing Famine has advocated for famine prevention resources and improved access to people in need. The risk of famine remains high in 2023 in multiple contexts. We are working with the UN and other partners to explore ways the HLTF can be reinvigorated to address the risk of famine including by looking at country focus, involvement of a wider range of stakeholders, and tapping into additional sources of finance.

The Famine Prevention and Humanitarian Crises Compact was agreed during the UK's G7 Presidency. Our share of the $7 billion in humanitarian assistance to the countries one step from famine was all disbursed in the financial year 2021/2022. We continue to deliver on our policy commitments in the Compact. For example, in October we partnered with G7 President Germany and the Risk-informed Early Action Partnership to co-host a donor event on Financing for Early and Anticipatory Action.

The Famine Prevention and Humanitarian Crises Compact was agreed during the UK's G7 Presidency, and we have provided our share of the $7 billion in humanitarian assistance to the countries one step from famine in 2021. We continue to deliver on our policy commitments in the Compact. For example, in October we partnered with G7 President Germany and the Risk-informed Early Action Partnership to co-host a donor event on Financing for Early and Anticipatory Action.

The UK is a sizeable humanitarian donor to East Africa. Since 2019 the UK has allocated more than £1 billion towards humanitarian operations, including across Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan, helping to reach tens of millions of people with life-saving aid. Final humanitarian allocations for FY 22/23 are currently being reviewed.

Reliable information on casualties as a result of conflict and famine in northern Ethiopia is scarce. It is likely that there have been thousands of battlefield casualties over the course of the conflict. 13 million people require humanitarian assistance as a result of the conflict. As many as 5.4 million people are in need of aid in Tigray.

In Ethiopia, the population in need of humanitarian food and nutrition assistance has reached record levels in 2022, driven by ongoing insecurity and climate shocks that are likely to result in continued high needs into 2023. The UN estimates that over 20 million people are food insecure in Ethiopia, of which 13 million people require food assistance as a result of the conflict in the north.

In the last eighteen months the UK has provided almost £90 million of humanitarian support to people affected by crises throughout Ethiopia. Our support has reached civilians in Tigray, Afar, Amhara, Somali and Oromia and also eastern Sudan. This includes critical food aid, safe drinking water, medical care, sanitation and nutritional supplies.