I propose to take Questions Nos. 388 and 405 together.
I deeply regret the decision by the Palestinian Authority and Israel to reduce the supply of electricity to Gaza, as a result of the dispute between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas over payment for the electricity supplied. While no government can be expected to tolerate indefinitely the situation arising as a result of Hamas' withholding of payment for the power supplied, it is the ordinary people of Gaza who are caught in the middle of this dispute, and are suffering the consequences.
Fortunately the resumption of operation by the Gaza power plant has largely compensated for the reduction in supply from Israel, but this resumption may not be sustained, and in any case only maintains the overall supply at the already wholly inadequate level provided in the first half of this year.
I raised the problems of Gaza with almost every official interlocutor I met on my recent visit, Israeli and Palestinian leaders and UN agencies, and others. This included both the electricity issue and the broader restrictions and deteriorating conditions which made Gaza a clear crisis point even before this latest problem. I urged all sides to see that a radical rethink of their positions was urgently needed to avert a disaster in both humanitarian and political terms.