Hansard

The situation in Gaza is a man-made humanitarian catastrophe. Over 63,000 people in Gaza have been killed and many more have been maimed. Most of the strip lies in ruins, and famine now grips the population. In a compelling address to the United Nations Security Council on 27 August, Joyce Msuya, the UN’s deputy humanitarian chief, advised that famine had been confirmed in north-central Gaza, where Gaza City is located, and that it is expected to spread to the south by the end of this month.

The scale of suffering is unimaginable. Nobody can ignore it. We must confront this crisis with urgency, compassion and an unwavering commitment to accountability. I know that colleagues across this Parliament share my horror at what is unfolding in Gaza.

This Government has consistently and unequivocally condemned the terrorist attacks that were carried out by Hamas on 7 October 2023, which claimed the lives of over 1,200 Israelis and saw 251 hostages taken. We have joined the international community in demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. All human life is equal, Israeli and Palestinian alike.

We have repeatedly called for an immediate and sustained ceasefire by all parties—a call that was endorsed by this Parliament on 21 November 2023—and for humanitarian aid to flow unrestricted into the territory. We have urged the United Kingdom Government to recognise the state of Palestine within the 1967 borders, joining over 140 UN member states—a number that is growing—and aligning with the international consensus on a two-state solution.

Although I welcome the intent behind the UK Government’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly this month, recognition must not be conditional and should be irreversible. It is the right of Palestinians, not the gift of international powers, and it must be backed by sanctions against the Israeli Government.

A two-state solution is the only way that Palestinian and Israeli peoples can have a future, living side by side in peace and security. The Palestinian people and the Israeli people deserve no less. The Government of Israel has, however, overtly rejected that position, announcing another massive illegal settlement in the West Bank, with Israel’s finance minister explicitly claiming that the development would

“bury the idea of a Palestinian state”.

On Monday, I spoke to Dr Husam Zomlot, the head of the Palestinian Mission in London. He described how settler violence and land grabs in the West Bank are accelerating and how it looks different to even two years ago, with Palestinian towns and cities behind barbed wire and walls, and with roadblocks choking mobility across the territory. He told me that the economy was being choked, with unemployment at around 50 per cent. He was convinced that the aim of the activity was, as the Israeli finance minister set out, to end the prospect of a Palestinian state.

The Israeli security cabinet’s decision to seize Gaza City last month has been condemned by the United Kingdom, the majority of the UN Security Council and senior UN figures. However, again, the Israeli Government has paid no heed. We need to act. The UK Government needs to act.

I am therefore calling for the immediate recognition of the Palestinian state, strengthened sanctions against those who are complicit in illegal settlements and the imposition of sanctions on the members of the Israeli security cabinet where they are complicit in the horrors that civilians in Gaza City face.

I welcomed the UK Government’s announcement in May that it had suspended trade negotiations with Israel, but it is clear that that action has made no difference. It is therefore time for the United Kingdom to withdraw from the UK-Israel free trade agreement, in view of Israel’s behaviour. I am also calling on the UK Government to follow the example of Ireland and to prohibit the import of goods produced in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

This Government has contributed to humanitarian responses to the Gaza crisis—to date, we have contributed £1.3 million for Gaza and the wider middle east. In November 2023, we provided £750,000 to support access to food, water, shelter and medical supplies for more than 670,000 displaced people. More recently, we provided £550,000 for the Disasters Emergency Committee middle east appeal, the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund and Mercy Corps.

We welcome the fact that the UK Government has committed to supporting the evacuation of Gazan students who have been awarded places at Scottish universities.

For some time, I have been calling for the UK to end arms sales to Israel. The UK Government’s decision to suspend some arms licences was welcome, but I believe that it should go further. All licensed arms exports should stop.

I said recently that I share the concerns of other countries and international leaders that a genocide appears to be unfolding in Gaza. I did not make that claim lightly. The legal determination of genocide is the responsibility of international courts, and the International Court of Justice found a prima facie case that Israel was committing genocide.

Under article II of the 1948 genocide convention, two conditions must be met for genocide to be established. The first is that specific acts such as killing,

“causing serious bodily or mental harm”,

or inflicting life conditions calculated to destroy a group have occurred. The second is that those acts were carried out with the

“intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.

Credible, widely documented evidence suggests that both of those conditions may be present in Israel’s conduct in Gaza. More than 63,000 Palestinians—the majority of them civilians, including more than 15,000 children—have been killed since October 2023. Vital infrastructure, including hospitals, homes, schools and water systems, have been systematically destroyed. Access to food, water and medical aid has been obstructed. The entire population has faced repeated forced displacement, often under life-threatening conditions.

Statements by senior Israeli officials include dehumanising language and express intent to eliminate Gaza. Defence minister Yoav Gallant described Palestinians as “human animals”. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invoked the biblical command “remember Amalek”, which is historically associated with collective annihilation. The finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said that Gaza would be “entirely destroyed” and that its civilians would be relocated to a humanitarian zone in the south before they would leave their homeland.

Those statements have been cited in South Africa’s legal submissions to the International Court of Justice. International legal scholars have argued that they help to establish the specific intent that is required for a finding of genocide under the convention.

Governments must act now. Our neighbours in Ireland were the first Government in the European Union to say that what the Israeli Government is doing is genocide, when the Taoiseach told the Dáil on 28 May that the Israeli government was “committing genocide in Gaza”. The UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese concluded in March 2024 that

“there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating the commission of ... genocide against Palestinians ... in Gaza has been met.”

In April 2025, the UN humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, stated:

“This is not a war for security. It is a war to erase a people. And our failure to stop it will haunt our generation, and history.”

The United Kingdom Government should support the international rule of law, join South Africa’s case at the ICJ and commit to implementing the ICC arrest warrants. The UK must end military co-operation with the Israeli Government while the war continues and the question of genocide remains current.

I want to directly address accusations that that opinion could be seen as antisemitic. Let me be clear: I utterly reject antisemitism and all forms of racism and hatred. I stand with Scotland’s Jewish, Muslim and Palestinian communities, and I condemn all forms of antisemitism, Islamophobia and racism. I recognise the trauma experienced by those communities and I pledge as First Minister to ensure their safety and dignity.

On Monday, I met members of Scotland’s Jewish community. I did so because I wanted to reassure them of the respect that I have for the contribution that the community makes to all aspects of Scottish life. They are an integral part of Scotland’s story, and they are a valued and cherished community in Scotland. However, I recognise that events in the middle east—and reactions to those events here, in Scotland—cause anxiety for members of our Jewish community, irrespective of their individual views on the conflict. I also know that members of our community have been affected by Hamas’s terrorism in the worst possible way, and I again pay tribute to the memory of Bernard Cowan.

My condemnation of this Israeli Government’s actions is grounded in international law, human rights and a belief in the equal value of every human life. Many Jewish organisations and individuals have condemned the assault on Gaza. Their courage reminds us that to speak out against mass violence is not antisemitic; it is deeply human. In fact, to speak out is our moral and legal responsibility.

The challenge for this Parliament, this Government, the United Kingdom Government and governments across the world is what action we should we take if we agree that we are witnessing an unfolding genocide. I have spoken about the actions that I am calling on the UK Government to take, but let me turn now to what this Government will do. We are instructing relevant delivery bodies, where possible, not to provide support in facilitating trade between Scotland and Israel.

The UK has treaty obligations and duties in international law to respond appropriately when a situation involving a serious risk of genocide arises. The ministerial code, under which I operate, at section 1.7 lays a clear responsibility on all ministers to comply with

“international law and treaty obligations”.

The International Court of Justice has made it plain that that risk exists. It has said that there is a prima facie case of genocide in Gaza. The Scottish Government cannot ignore that.

We have previously provided business grants and investment support to companies that are involved in the design, production, supply and support of military equipment, technologies and services. We do so because we recognise that defending our country and defending our continent is a duty of Government. I hope that anyone watching the war in Ukraine would recognise the importance of defence. Indeed, the invasion shows that we live in a world in which our national security faces much greater and more immediate threats. In recognition of the changed international landscape, the Scottish Government will lift the restriction that we have applied on the use of support for the production of munitions.

However, in the face of genocide there can be no business as usual. We will pause new awards of public money to arms companies whose products or services are provided to countries when there is plausible evidence of genocide being committed by those countries. That will include Israel. The pause will apply, where possible, to new grants provided or investments made by the Scottish Government, our enterprise agencies and the Scottish National Investment Bank. Any defence company that is seeking support from the Scottish Government will have to demonstrate that its products are not involved militarily with Israel.

The UK Government should review what other steps it must now take in view of the United Kingdom’s duty in international law to respond when there is a serious risk of genocide. Ultimately, the International Court of Justice must come to a determination in the case against the Israeli Government of genocide. Until we have that clarity, new public moneys should not go to arms companies that are involved with the Israeli military.

I know that there will be people in Scotland, not least apprentices funded by the Scottish Government who are working on the Clyde, at Rosyth and elsewhere, asking,“What does this mean for me?” Let me be clear: we have made a legally binding commitment to those young people and it will be honoured. Anyone who is in an apprenticeship or who has a formal offer will continue to be funded in their current place for the full duration of the apprenticeship.

This is a humanitarian crisis and Scotland will directly address that humanitarian need. We have a long history of helping those in desperate need and we will not be found wanting now. I can announce that we will provide £400,000 to Kids Operating Room to establish the Gaza HOPES—healthcare for obstetrics, paediatrics, emergency, and surgical care—field readiness hub in Scotland. The funding will help to unlock $15 million of additional funding to deliver a rapidly deployable hospital in Gaza. Designed in Scotland to be built in just a week, it can operate in the most challenging environments and last for decades. It will provide essential surgical, maternity and paediatric services to thousands of patients every year. The hub, or pilot hospital, will be co-ordinated from Dundee and will support similar deployments in future crises.

We will also donate £600,000 to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs-led humanitarian fund for the occupied Palestinian territories, which will provide life-saving health services, food and nutrition assistance, emergency shelter, water and sanitation, protection services, education support and cash for families, ensuring that aid reaches those who are most at risk.

We have also committed to providing medical support for up to 20 injured children from Gaza. We expect the first arrivals, along with their families, in mid-September.

Although there are significant challenges in relocating human rights defenders such as journalists from Gaza at this time, we are determined to do what we can, and we will explore that and other ways of supporting their vital work at pace.

We will also support those who are struggling for justice, however distant a prospect that currently seems. We are exploring practical measures to bring expertise within Scotland’s legal establishment, our universities and our civil society, to contribute to gathering and preserving evidence that might be used in international criminal cases.

We are witnessing a humanitarian disaster of historic proportions, yet the bombs continue to fall. The world cannot wait for a final court ruling before acting. The signs are clear and the alarm has been raised. The bombs and rockets must stop and humanitarian aid must flow.

The international community, including the United Kingdom Government, must recognise a Palestinian state as the first step towards peace and a two-state solution in which the peoples of both Israel and Palestine can live side-by-side in peace and security.

Acknowledging that we are witnessing the signs of genocide brings with it a responsibility to act. The people of Scotland expect no less of us. For the duration of this afternoon’s business, I have authorised that the Palestinian flag be raised outside St Andrew’s house as an indication of Scotland’s solidarity with the people of Palestine. Scotland will always raise her voice in favour of peace and humanity.