DELIVERY of aid into Gaza has become “impossible”, with people risking running into gunfire for a bag of flour and trucks with deliveries languishing on the border.
SNP MP Chris Law said these harrowing stories told by aid workers showed an immediate ceasefire was needed so that “life-saving aid can be delivered without fear of death”.
He heard first-hand accounts of the disastrous conditions during a visit with the Commons International Development Committee to the Sinai peninsula in Egypt last week.
The area of Al-Arish is operating as a logistics hub for all aid, including from the UK, which is destined for the tightly controlled crossing into Gaza.
Following the visit, members of the committee raised concerns about the levels of “brutality and destruction” and insisted the UK is not getting accurate information about the “true scale of the horror”.
READ MORE: UN World Food Programme suspends aid amid 'desperation' in northern Gaza
Law (below) told The National “nothing could have prepared him” for the accounts that he heard.
He said: “I expected to hear harrowing stories, but the scale of the disaster didn’t hit home until I heard it directly from those who have spent the last five months desperately trying to tackle this crisis.
“I heard from aid workers with decades of experience in delivering help and assistance to people in desperate circumstances who have been horrified by what they have witnessed in Gaza.
“Arbitrary checks and blocks on aid trucks entering Gaza means that many trucks now languish on the Egyptian side of the border.
“Despite the ongoing conditions in Gaza, I was told that less aid is making it in now than this time last year.”
He added: “There has been a complete breakdown in order, and the delivery of life-saving aid has become impossible.
“As conditions continue to worsen, order continues to breakdown, and this is only making the delivery of aid once in Gaza even more difficult.
“Again and again, aid workers reiterated that they have never experienced anything on this scale.
READ MORE: SNP demand investigation into Speaker's conduct over Gaza motion
“Many have spent years working in disaster and conflict zones – but the horrors in Gaza are the worst they have ever seen.
“I heard of people risking their lives for food, running into gunfire to save a bag of flour. Of children as young as five killed from sniper fire to the head.
“Of people who have been displaced, not once or twice, but on multiple occasions upended under fear of death. This must end.”
The visit came ahead of the Commons debate on the SNP’s Opposition Day motion on a ceasefire in Gaza, which descended into chaos over the decision by speaker Lindsay Hoyle to select a Labour amendment.
It meant MPs only voted on the Labour amendment, which proposed an immediate ceasefire like the SNP motion - but did not accuse Israel of the “collective punishment” of the Palestinian people.
The SNP have said they now intend put forward a new motion and “move the Gaza ceasefire debate forward”, which will propose “concrete actions” for the UK Government to take.
READ MORE: New SNP Gaza ceasefire motion to propose 'concrete actions'
Law added: “The people I spoke to delivering aid in Gaza were clear about two things. Firstly, they need an immediate ceasefire so that some level of order can be restored, and life-saving aid can be delivered without fear of death.
“Secondly, the collective punishment of Palestinians must end.
“The SNP brought a motion on Wednesday that delivered on both these points, and I am disappointed that, due to unprecedented wrangling by the Speaker, we were not given the opportunity to vote on this motion.
“Whilst I am relieved that a motion did pass backing a cease-fire, I share the disappointment of tens of thousands of people across the country who contacted their MPs urging support of the SNP’s motion that reference to the collective punishment was removed.
“This was yet another failure of an archaic Westminster system that is not fit for the twenty-first century.”
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