In anguish and despair the world watches the terrible violence and devastation in Israel and Gaza. Seared on our minds are scenes of civilians killed, wounded and taken hostage. There have been scenes of homes destroyed and entire neighbourhoods wiped out by military bombardment. Lives have been lost and shattered beneath the rubble. The scale of human suffering and the depth of grief is unimaginable. The killing of civilians in Israel by Hamas was unjustifiable and was condemned. Israel's siege of Gaza, which continues decades-long daily brutalisation of Palestinian people, trampling on their human rights, and the wanton violation of international law must be condemned.

Yesterday we lost one of the world's great peacemakers, former Finnish President and Nobel laureate, Martti Ahtisaari. He famously said:

Peace is a question of will. All conflicts can be settled, and there are no excuses for allowing them to become eternal.

As Israel lays siege to Gaza, international and European diplomacy needs to heed those words.

EU Commission President von der Leyen's unqualified support for Israel's unmerciful military attack on the people of Gaza and her failure to assert the primacy of international law was reckless, inflammatory and dangerous. Ms von der Leyen does not speak for Ireland.

Hear, hear.

The Taoiseach correctly stated last week that the targeting of Palestinian civilians, cutting off water, food and medicines and the destruction of civilian infrastructure are grave breaches of international law. He described Israel's bombardment of Gaza as collective punishment and he was right. More than 3,000 Palestinians, including 1,000 children, have been killed so far. Thousands more have been injured and 600,000 people have been displaced. The people of Gaza, a refugee population, are running out of food, water, fuel and electricity. As the wrath of one of the world's most ferocious military forces is unleashed upon them, as their homes and neighbourhoods are decimated by Israel's carpet bombing, Gaza's civilians are left with nowhere to shelter or run and with no way out.

Israel's actions are not defensive. They are an offensive attack against a beleaguered and impoverished civilian population. It is the horrible crescendo of occupation, annexation and apartheid. This is not defence. These are crimes against human rights perpetrated in full view of the world. If we do not call it what it is, if the international community does not stand unified against it, then history will record this as the defining failure of our generation. Our children and grandchildren will ask us how this was allowed to happen. Peace and justice demand that Gaza does not become the graveyard of international law. Israel's blockade must end. The bombardment of Gaza must stop and ceasefires must be called. Hostages must be released and space must be created for dialogue.

Caithfear deireadh a chur le héagóir chruálach Iosrael agus bombardú ar Gaza. Ní mór don Aontas Eorpach a bheith mar phríomghuth ar son sos cogaidh, comhrá agus dlí idirnáisiúnta. Ending the bombardment of Gaza and stopping the violence must be the priority.

In my view, that should be the position of the Dáil. It should also be the unified approach of the EU.

I thank the Deputy.

The Taoiseach will attend an emergency meeting of European leaders. At this meeting, will he call for ceasefires? Will he call for an end to the bombardment of Gaza, for dialogue and for the imposition of international law?

Hear, hear.

I thank Deputy McDonald for raising this very important and very serious matter once again in the Dáil. I say once again that Ireland unreservedly condemns the brutal attack by Hamas and other militant groups on Israel and the devastating loss of life it has caused. We also condemn the terrorist attacks that occurred in France last week and in Belgium only yesterday. We also demand the release of all hostages without any conditions immediately.

Israel has the right to defend itself and to pursue Hamas terrorists who attacked its civilian population, and we accept that right. However, Israel's response must be exercised within the parameters of international humanitarian law; even wars have rules. Collective punishment should not be inflicted on the population in Gaza. Citizens must be protected and Gaza must have access to humanitarian aid. There must be the establishment of humanitarian corridors. There is also a need to prevent the conflict from escalating and spreading to other parts of the region, which is an enormous concern at the moment.

This afternoon I will attend an extraordinary meeting of the European Council by video conference to discuss the unfolding crisis and to aim to have a united response from the European Union building on the joint statement we issued on Sunday. I expect the Council will repeat its strong support for Israel’s right to defend itself in the wake of brutal terrorist attacks that occurred on Israeli soil and also reconfirm our condemnation of Hamas. But I also expect, and hope, that we will call for a de-escalation of this conflict. Ireland will be calling for a humanitarian pause so that refugees, including some of our own citizens, can get out and supplies can get into Gaza. The conflict between Israel and the Arabs has been going on for more than 75 years. It has been 75 years of wars, refugees and terrorism. There is no military solution to this conflict. The solution can only be one based on peace between Israel and Palestine and based on peace between Israel and the Arab states that surround it. When the fighting stops, and let us hope it does not go on for too long, there will be a need for a new peace initiative involving partners like the US, the EU, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other countries. What we have to do now and prioritise in the next couple of weeks is make sure that civilians are protected, humanitarian corridors are established and that any actions Israel takes to remove terrorists from Gaza are done in accordance with international law.

It is abundantly clear that Israel is not abiding by international law, humanitarian law or the law of wars, as the Taoiseach put it. There have been 3,000 Palestinian deaths. Many more people are missing under the rubble. We have witnessed with our own eyes collective punishment and the targeting of civilian infrastructure resulting in no water, no medicines, no food and an increased level of desperation. We have seen, and Israel openly called for, forced transfer of the population, another violation of international law in the clear sight of the international community.

I appreciate absolutely the need to condemn the horror that was visited on Israel and the killing of those civilians and taking of hostages. I absolutely do, but I cannot understand or accept the Taoiseach's failure to condemn the Israeli onslaught on a refugee population hemmed in in what has been described as the world's largest open air-prison, with an impoverished refugee population.

I thank the Deputy.

The answer to this is peace. The answer to this is a ceasefire, not a humanitarian pause or de-escalation but a ceasefire. I ask the Taoiseach again to make that call and take that message to the European Union.

Hear, hear.

Alongside the UN, we have called for the order which Israel has made for Palestinian people to move to the southern part of Gaza to be rescinded. That is not an acceptable demand in our view. We have also clearly condemned the cutting off of supplies of water and fuel to the people of Gaza. That is not acceptable. In contrast, we need humanitarian corridors. The European Union is working on that with Egypt at the moment. Israel has the right to defend itself, to pursue the terrorists who attacked its civilian population and to bring them to justice but it must do that within the basic rules of international law. It is the case that Hamas hides itself among the civilian population, but they are not to blame for that and there can be no excuse or acceptance of civilians or civilian infrastructure being targeted in this way.

The situation in Gaza is a humanitarian catastrophe. Yesterday, the death toll stood at 3,000, more than one third of whom are children. A child in Gaza is now being killed every 15 minutes, so in real terms, by the time the Taoiseach finishes responding to my questions, another child will be dead. There is no water or electricity. Food has nearly run out. Even the body bags have now run out. Hospital generators are running on fumes. When the hospitals run out of fuel, some time today or tomorrow, incubators keeping babies alive will be switched off. Their short lives will be over then too. Humanitarian aid, food, water and medical supplies are stuck in Egypt because Israel has refused to agree a ceasefire. Israel will not even stop bombing for a few hours to allow citizens of its supposed allies to get out. Forty Irish citizens are trapped in Gaza. The carnage and terror they witness every second they remain there is unimaginable.

This is not a war. It is a genocide and ethnic cleansing. The response of the EU has not just been inadequate but has been callous, indifferent and dangerous. This reached rock bottom on Friday when Ursula von der Leyen visited Israel. By then, Israel had dropped 6,000 bombs on an area half the size of Louth, thousands were dead and injured, food, water and electricity supplies had been cut off, and the Israeli Government had given 1.2 million people 24 hours' notice to leave northern Gaza. What was the European Commission President's response to this litany of war crimes and breaches of international law? She stood with the Israeli Prime Minister and offered him the EU's unqualified and unconditional support. She said, "Israel can count on the EU."

Last year, when Russia targeted civilian infrastructure and cut off electricity supplies, Ursula von der Leyen called out its war crimes. When Israel acts similarly, she not only failed to utter a single word of criticism but she went to the region to offer support for its war crimes in our name. The Commission President's failure to unequivocally condemn Israel's collective punishment of the Palestinian people has undermined the EU's response to this crisis. Given that von der Leyen has no authority to override member states' foreign policy positions, her comments also amounted to a serious overreach of her authority.

I am grateful that the Taoiseach and Tánaiste have been clear that Ireland's position is that Israel is in breach of international law but it is really concerning to hear the Taoiseach's words in this Chamber because they are weak. He has an opportunity at today's emergency meeting of the European Council. I have three questions. Will he explicitly condemn the European Commission President's response to this humanitarian disaster? What will he do to ensure that Ireland exerts the strongest possible influence for a ceasefire and de-escalation of violence at that meeting? What is the Government doing to get Irish citizens out of Gaza?

The position of the European Union is the one agreed in the statement by the European Council. That was agreed on Sunday after many conversations over the weekend. I hope we will be in a position to build on that position today at the extraordinary Council of the European Union. Each EU member state has its own foreign policy. We only have a common foreign policy when we agree to have one and when we can agree joint statements.

While President von der Leyen has done an extremely good job as President of the European Commission on issues such as climate, Covid and Ukraine, some of the statements she made lacked balance. I said that to her and have no difficulty saying it. The statements she has made more recently were more balanced, specifically those relating to the tripling of EU humanitarian aid for Gaza and the attempts we are making at present to organise a UN humanitarian air bridge from Gaza through Egypt.

We will be calling for a de-escalation. We do not want to see this conflict spread to other parts of the Middle East. I am conscious that we have troops in Lebanon and Syria and I am concerned for their safety. Nobody wants to see this spread to Lebanon, the West Bank or other parts of Middle East. There are actors who want that to happen, perhaps including Hamas and some states in the region. We should not forget that.

We will stand over Israel's right to defend itself. I hope we all agree in this House that Israel as a state has a right to defend itself and to pursue terrorists who attack it, but we will be very clear that it is our view as a country that this must be done in accordance with international law. The fact that Hamas hides among the population, uses Palestinian civilians as human shields, and is now using Israeli hostages as human shields is not acceptable. We need to call that out too. However, those civilians are not to blame for the fact that Hamas uses them as human shields and should not be punished collectively as a result.

I agree it needs to be condemned on both sides. We have been clear about that but the Taoiseach saying that her statements lack balance in itself lacks balance. It is more than lacking balance to go over and stand with the Israeli President and say that Israel has the EU's support. A genocide is occurring on our watch and the international community is standing by and letting it happen. The Taoiseach just says he hopes to build on a position at the Council meeting; that will not go far enough. I want him to please not underestimate the importance of his voice at today's European Council meeting. Ireland is one of very few states willing to call out Israel's war crimes for what they are. We have a responsibility to the people of Palestine to do all we possibly can in the upcoming hours and days to push for a ceasefire and the opening of aid corridors. The Taoiseach mentioned that, but the tripling of EU aid to Palestine is pointless unless these corridors are opened before it is too late.

We need to make it unequivocally clear that Ursula von der Leyen does not speak for Ireland, and has no right to offer our support and the support of the other 26 member states to Israel as it rains down bombs on innocent civilians. The UN is calling this an ethnic cleansing but the EU is failing to even condemn it. EU officials are still failing to offer any kind of criticism. How long more will the EU stay silent at the expense of these people? Will the Taoiseach please use his voice today to represent Ireland on this?

Thank you, Deputy. We are way over time.

The more minority the voice, the more important it is to speak louder for these people.

I hope that we can all agree a few things in the House. First, that we condemn without reservation Hamas's actions in Israel and that we call for the release of the hostages immediately and without any preconditions. I hope we will all agree, just as is the case for any sovereign state, including ours, that Israel has the right to defend itself and has the right to pursue the terrorists that attacked it-----

These are not defensive actions.

-----and try to rescue the hostages who are currently being held in Gaza. I hope we can all agree on that. I also hope we can agree on a third thing, namely, that it is not acceptable for Israel in defending itself to violate international humanitarian law, to target civilians, to cut off civilian infrastructure or to order people to be displaced to the south of Gaza. I hope we can agree on all those things.

I specifically asked about the consular situation. We are in constant contact with a number of citizens in Gaza and all the relevant authorities regarding their cases. We are also closely working with the EU and other states that have citizens in Gaza too. On citizens in Israel, the main airport, Ben Gurion at Tel Aviv, remains open and commercial flights are available. We are assisting Irish citizens to depart through commercial means.

We are also monitoring the situation at Rafah, where the border crossing situation remains fluid. We are in contact with the relevant authorities through our embassies in Tel Aviv and Cairo, and our office in Ramallah, to assist Irish citizens who want to leave to do so, as soon as foreign passport holders are allowed to do so.