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The situation in Gaza is 'worse than hell', says Labour MP
4 June 2025, 20:19
Dr Rosena Allin-Khan says the situation in Gaza is “worse than hell” following a recent visit as a humanitarian doctor.
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Speaking on Tonight with Andrew Marr on LBC, the Labour MP called the deaths in Gaza "entirely avoidable", adding: "Food is being used as a weapon of war. There is clear evidence being detailed of war crimes."
Asked how being in Gaza recently changed her mind on the situation, Dr Allin-Khan told Andrew: "My mind has never had to be changed when it comes to any atrocity involving the loss of life of innocent people."
She said that as a humanitarian doctor for 15 years, nine of those whilst being an MP, she has regularly criticised global atrocities.
Dr Allin-Khan said: "I've called out what was going on in Myanmar. I've been to Ukraine, I've been to Palestine, and the needless, senseless loss of life is lamentable."
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She added: "I don't think any parent myself included. I mean, we have the luxury, quite frankly, of going home tonight, kissing our kids, our grandkids, holding them, knowing they're safe.
"Parents in Palestine don't love their children any less.
"And the case of the doctor like myself, who works in an emergency department having all nine of her children brutally murdered while she went on shift to save other children, we have to be able to look ourselves in the mirror in the twilight of our lives, and know that we did everything that we could, and that is what each and every Member of Parliament, member of government and individual, needs to be able to ask themselves."
The comments come as Israeli and US-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, paused food delivery at its three distribution sites in Gaza on Wednesday.
Gaza health officials, the Red Cross and the UN rights office said 27 people were killed on Tuesday and witnesses blamed Israeli forces.
Israel's military said it fired near people it described as suspects who it said approached its forces and ignored warning shots. It says it is looking into reports of casualties.
At least 80 people have been killed since the sites opened last week, according to hospital officials, including dozens in similar shootings at roughly the same location on Sunday and Monday, when the military also said it had fired warning shots.
GHF says there has been no violence in the aid sites themselves but has acknowledged the potential dangers people face when travelling to them on foot.
Thousands of Palestinians walk to the sites early each morning, desperate for food and hoping to beat the crowds, and pass near Israeli forces in the predawn darkness.
The United Nations, which operates a longstanding aid system that can deliver to hundreds of locations across the territory, denies there has been any systematic diversion of aid by Hamas, saying it has mechanisms to prevent that.
Israel imposed a complete ban on food and other imports for more than two months before easing the restrictions in May.
UN agencies say lingering restrictions, the breakdown of law and order inside Gaza, and widespread looting have made it difficult to deliver assistance.
Experts warned earlier this year that Gaza is at risk of famine if Israel does not lift its blockade and stop the military campaign it renewed in March, when it shattered a ceasefire with Hamas.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251.
They are still holding 58 hostages, around a third believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel's military campaign has killed more than 54,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants.
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