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I know that Mr Kerr takes seriously his responsibilities of ensuring that taxpayers’ money that goes to causes is well spent, whatever those causes are. I agree with him that it is important to understand that. One cannot, in the entire aid area, be 100 per cent sure about 100 per cent of spending going down to the smallest amount. However, because of the countries and organisations that are involved in the processes and the reporting that is involved in them, as a minister who has to sign off on the funding, I have a very high level of assurance in dealing with trusted partners.

Take, for example, our humanitarian emergency fund panel. It comprises the British Red Cross, Christian Aid, Oxfam, Islamic Relief Worldwide, Mercy Corps, Save the Children, the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund and Tearfund. Those are very well-established and trusted partners. The international donor community—which includes the likes of the United Kingdom, the United States, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Finland and Canada—operates in the same way when it comes to such questions.

I do not want to deter Stephen Kerr from wanting to ensure that transparency, accountability and systems are in place. That is entirely fair. However, I want to give him confidence—which, indeed, his party colleagues in the UK Government had when they operated the same system—that donors, Governments and humanitarian and aid organisations are all in it together trying to address the Gaza humanitarian situation in the most extreme circumstances of a war that is being conducted in a small geographical area from which the population cannot leave. It is a very extreme situation. I give Stephen Kerr those assurances.

If it would be helpful, I would be happy for us to provide the committee, through the convener, with access to information on where those reports are aggregated so that Mr Kerr, or any other colleagues who wish to learn more about that, can have access.

I am sorry, but I want to finish with a bit of supplementary information. I am advised that we cannot lawfully impose a blanket ban on support for companies based solely on the fact that they are listed on the United Nations database of companies that are involved in the occupied territories. That is but one example of the fact that there are lawful and legal requirements on the Government—

I am not sure whether Stephen Kerr wanted to create an impression when he said that we do not know where the money goes. The money is going towards intervention, as intended.

We have no reason to think that those organisations are not doing their jobs and doing them properly.

The member is right to point out the amount of money that is provided by the Scottish Government compared with independent countries, but Scotland is devolved, and we if we were independent we would want to do much more. However, with the limited means that we have, we are not cutting our aid budget, unlike others, including the United Kingdom and the United States. Our partners are very keen for us to be supportive, because there is a lot of need out there. Gaza is but one part of that, but it is an extreme example of where humanitarian support is required.

I will ask Ms Keating to give you some information about that.

First, Mr Harvie will have to forgive me, but I believe that the case he mentioned happened before my time in the Scottish Parliament. I will have to go away and have a look at that specific case.

Good morning, convener and members of the committee. Thank you very much for the opportunity to open our discussion on the Gaza humanitarian situation with some reflections on behalf of the Scottish Government.

As of now, the people of Gaza are being bombed, they are being shot and they are being starved on a massive scale. More than 56,000 people have been killed, and half a million people are now facing starvation, with children under five years old being particularly affected. Eighty-two per cent of Gaza is now within the Israeli militarised zone or under evacuation orders. Gazans simply have nowhere safe to go.

Due to the unimaginable suffering in Gaza, the Scottish Government has committed £1.3 million to supporting those in need, with £550,000 through the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal since 2024 and £750,000 in 2023 to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which has a direct mandate from the United Nations to provide humanitarian aid and essential services across Gaza and the West Bank.

Both DEC members and UNRWA are currently not able to bring supplies into the Gaza strip, and have not been able to do so for three months. Later today, I will meet with UNRWA’s Marc Lassouaoui to hear from him first hand about the latest situation. I understand that committee members have been briefed by him already.

Israel must allow humanitarian agencies to conduct their life-saving work in Gaza unimpeded and at scale. The trickle of aid being delivered by private contractors is inadequate, inhumane, and very dangerous. The Scottish Government condemns in the strongest terms the killings in Gaza of civilians, more than 400 of whom have been killed while queuing for food and trying to get aid for their families from contractors. Israel must let legitimate humanitarian actors have access to Gaza and supply the much-needed humanitarian assistance that is waiting on its borders.

The Scottish Government has been consistent and forthright in calling for an immediate and sustained ceasefire. We have also been clear that Israel has a right to protect itself and its citizens from terror. The Scottish Government has repeatedly and unreservedly condemned the brutality of Hamas on 7 October 2023 and demanded the immediate and unconditional release of Israeli and other hostages.

However, it is the Scottish Government’s view that the Israeli Government has gone far beyond a proportionate response. Israel must abide by international humanitarian law, comply with international court rulings and ensure humanitarian access.

Other Governments must also play their part. We have repeatedly asked the United Kingdom Government to end licensed arms exports to Israel. We have also called on it to ensure accountability for anyone who has committed war crimes or crimes against humanity.

Following last week’s debate, I wrote to the UK Government on the issue of exports to Israel of arms and other goods manufactured in Scotland, in order that I can, in turn, update members of the Scottish Parliament as they have requested.

The Scottish Government has continued to play its part in ameliorating the devastating humanitarian situation in Gaza. Ultimately, only a two-state solution, in which Palestinians and Israelis can live side by side in peace and security, will bring lasting peace. That remains the Scottish Government’s steadfast position. In that regard, I was disappointed that last week’s United Nations conference on a two-state solution, which was to be co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, was postponed due to the conflict between Iran and Israel.

I look forward to discussing the humanitarian situation in Gaza with the committee.

That is undoubtedly the case. One of the big differences in relation to aid and humanitarian supplies getting into Gaza is that, previously, the United Nations operated more than 400 distribution points, whereas the current non-neutral militarised system of Israeli-permitted food distribution takes place in very dangerous areas. Israel does not let journalists into Gaza, so pictures are not getting out and one is not able to judge for oneself, but the reports, which are pretty well verified, show that what appears to be happening is that, because of the extreme nature of the situation, people who are desperate for food are having to walk for hours overnight to arrive in places where supplies are being handed out. That leads to a large number of people congregating, and it has been put to me that private military contractors—they would previously have been described as mercenaries—are opening fire on large groups of people out of fear that they are about to storm the aid distribution point.

I have not been able to see verifiable pictures of that, but, as far as I am aware, food distribution did not happen in the same way previously, when the United Nations was responsible for it. At what point will the Israeli Government or the American Government, which are the two that are the most involved in the process, realise that they are operating a system that involves the deaths of hundreds of people?

I do not know how many of the committee members share my habit of listening to the BBC World Service in the middle of the night. Overnight, there was an extended interview with a humanitarian aid worker in Gaza. She was describing that very circumstance: people having to leave to get aid and not knowing whether they are going to come back. It is intolerable that people are having to live in a war zone and that the level of civilian casualties is so high. People are not even able to get food and water, and that is a man-made problem. It is the choice of the occupying power to allow that to continue. It has a responsibility under international law. That has been challenging for a lot of us, because there is a general view that it is not upholding international law.

I am sorry that I am going to have to do this to Mr Harvie. I have to answer the question the other way round, which is to say that the Scottish Government needs to operate within the law. It is really important that we do that, so it must be the other way round. I appreciate that Mr Harvie has the luxury, sitting where he is, of asking the question the other way round. We have to operate within the framework of the law, and, as I have said to him, I am content to look, subject to the constraints in law, at doing everything that we can both in our decision making but also in using our voices—

Principally—