Urgent Question on Israel and Gaza

Following the horrendous killings in the Church compound of the Catholic Parish of the Holy Family in Gaza City, the Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Vincent Nichols said “The information provided by the Cardinal, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem gives a picture of seemingly deliberate and callous killing by IDF soldiers of innocent civilians: an elderly woman and her daughter in the grounds of a church. This killing has to stop. It can never be justified.”

On Tuesday 19 December 2023, an Urgent Question was tabled regarding the conflict between Israel and Gaza, and I asked the Minister for Development and Africa Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP a question: “Does the Minister agree with Cardinal Vincent Nichols’s version of events that took place in the compound of the Holy Family church?”

The Minister answered by saying: “The right hon. Lady will understand that I am not in a position to make that judgment, but I have heard with great respect what the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster has said.”

Everyone is alarmed about the events in the compound which is a safe place and provides sanctuary and shelter for those fleeing from the war.