Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. I join others in this House in extending my deepest sympathies to the family of Kim Damti who was brutally killed in a savage attack by Hamas. Kim was just 22, and like so many people her age loved attending music festivals with her friends. She was doing that last weekend when Hamas opened fire. More than 260 young people were massacred at that site. Elsewhere in southern Israel, more than 1,200 people have been confirmed dead. Thousands more have been injured.

The terror and devastation experienced by those caught up in the attack is unimaginable. So, too, is the terror experienced by Palestinian mothers cradling their children, desperate to shield them from the bombs dropping indiscriminately over their heads. It is impossible to imagine the devastation experienced by those in Gaza who as we speak are pulling the bodies of loved ones from the rubble that was formerly their home, school or hospital. More than 1,300 people, including more than 320 children, have been killed in Gaza by Israeli attacks. I can understand and empathise with the rage, grief and fear of the Israeli people. It has triggered generational trauma that is raw and real. Sadly, there has been little acknowledgment on the world stage of the generational trauma of the Palestinian people, a people who have been driven from their land, corralled and confined into open-air prisons and forced to exist under an apartheid regime that has inflicted injustice after injustice on the people of Palestine; a regime that has continuously massacred civilians. This has been the lived reality of the Palestinian people for decades and we cannot become desensitised to that horror.

The indiscriminate murder of Israeli civilians by Hamas fighters must be condemned unequivocally. There can be no justification for the deliberate targeting of civilians. The decision by the Israeli Government to blockade the supply of food, water and energy from Gaza is unprecedented and horrifying. Later today, it is expected that the fuel operating the generators in Gaza's hospitals will run out.

What is happening is a war crime. Civilians are being deliberately slaughtered and the international community cannot muster up a single word of criticism for the Israeli Government. More than 2 million people live in Gaza, 50% of whom are children. It is the most densely populated open-air prison on the planet so when Israel drops its bombs, civilians have nowhere to run. Now, they do not have food, water or electricity. Soon the Internet will also die, and they will be completely cut off from the world. The people of Gaza have days, a week at most. I am deeply concerned at the EU response to this crisis and the failure of Ursula von der Leyen to condemn the Israeli Government for its bombardment of Gaza. Does the Tánaiste share my concerns about the EU's response?

Well said.

I appreciate the Deputy raising this issue. I have articulated, like her, our deepest sympathies to the family of Kim Damti and also our horror at what happened last Saturday in respect of Hamas's attack on Israel. It can be very challenging at times in situations like this in juxtaposing one atrocity - I know Deputy Cairns is not doing this. However, we should not lose sight of the enormity of that atrocity, and we should never fail to call it out. I know the Deputy is not doing that. I just want to say that because it was a moment in time when thousands of people moved over a border. We are told the number is up to 1,500 and that will all have to be verified, but 1,300 have been murdered and maybe 2,500 injured.

Equally, we should be careful of saying the "EU response". I can assure the Deputy that the response of Commissioner Várhelyi is not the European Union's response. I spoke at the Foreign Affairs Council during the week. The vast majority of member states were very clear, obviously, in unreservedly condemning the Hamas atrocity but also in making it clear that humanitarian aid and development aid to Palestinians would continue, both to the Palestinian Authority but also to Palestinians. I was very strongly of the view, and asserted the position of Ireland, that it would be a completely counterproductive and morally wrong thing to do. We must if anything now, and I have asked my officials to work with the United Nations and European partners in respect of additional aid that will be required for Gazans, make sure we can develop humanitarian corridors into Gaza in the short term to get aid through.

We do not need an Old Testament approach to this but rather a New Testament approach. Ultimately, we need to move on a pathway to peace and reconciliation. It cannot be an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth approach. That would be my view. We must distinguish between ordinary Palestinians going about their daily lives and those who lead Hamas and who orchestrated this attack by Hamas. Israel cannot punish innocent Gazans in indiscriminate bombings, which will result and has resulted in the deaths of children, women and innocent civilians.

I am very clear on that.

I understand Israel has a right to self-defence. It has a right to deal with Hamas because Hamas has declared war on Israel and murdered its civilians, but the entire population of Gaza cannot be collateral damage in that response to Hamas. International law must apply. President Biden said yesterday that Israel's response must uphold the rules of war. The vast majority of the Foreign Affairs Council in the European Union are clear that international law must apply. We are all the signatories to the Geneva Convention-----

I thank the Tánaiste. We are out of time.

I thank the Tánaiste for his reply. He might clarify if that means he does or does not share my concern about the EU response. When Russia targeted civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, the European Commission President was unequivocal. She said, "Russian attacks against civilian infrastructure, especially electricity, are war crimes". She continued, "Cutting off men, women, children of water, electricity, and heating, with the winter coming - these are acts of pure terror. And we have to call it as such." War crimes are not defined by the identity of the perpetrator but by the act itself. Cutting off fuel, food, electricity and energy to more than 2 million people is a clear war crime. Not only that, but the Commission President has failed to even publicly express any concern for the more than 2 million Palestinians trapped under relentless bombing.

Previously, the Tánaiste stressed the necessity of working alongside the EU to advance the cause of Palestine, but it is clear that the majority of member states will not speak out against Israel's treatment of Palestine and that the European Commission President has not done that herself. We can play a powerful role as a neutral arbiter if we are willing to act, lead and do so quickly. The people of Gaza do not have the luxury of time. What is the Tánaiste doing at an EU level to work towards an intervention to facilitate a pathway to a ceasefire, talks and peace? What is his position on the EU response?

Position on which?

On the EU response. Has the Tánaiste concerns about it?

I said earlier that I do not accept the Deputy's assessment of the EU response. One of the biggest donors to Palestine is the European Union. Let us not present the EU as a body that is somehow out to undermine Palestinians. There can be strands of opinion within the European Union. Some member states do not share our position or have a different perspective, but fundamentally, the biggest financial donor to the West Bank and Gaza is the European Union.

Some €700 million.

About €700 million. We allocated €16 million this year. I spoke to the Palestinian foreign minister, Riyad al-Maliki, two days ago. I spoke to the Palestinian Authority's secretary general this morning. We have been clear that our humanitarian or development aid continues and, as I said earlier, before I was cut off, the Geneva Convention and international law must be adhered to and applied. The vast majority of member states are-----

What about the President's response?

-----very clear about continuing development aid and humanitarian aid, but also ensuring that any interventions or attacks have to be in accordance with international law.