Today marks the one-month anniversary of the brutal Hamas attack on Israel in which 1,400 people were killed, 1,000 were injured and at least 243 people were kidnapped. We now know an Irish-Israeli girl, eight-year-old Emily Hand, is among those who were kidnapped. I know everyone in this House is hoping for Emily's safe return and the safe and swift return of all hostages.

Israel has a right to defend itself from attack but what is happening in Gaza is not a defence; it is an annihilation. The entire strip is being reduced to death and dust. The scale of the devastation is unprecedented. Nowhere is safe. UN schools, hospitals, media centres, bakeries and residential buildings have all been deliberately targeted by Israeli missiles. More than 10,000 people have been killed in just a month, including more than 4,000 children, 89 UN workers and 39 journalists. Some 1.5 million people have been displaced. More than 2 million people are being denied the essentials to sustain life - food, water and fuel.

The ambivalent response of the international community to this litany of war crimes is shameful. The UN Security Council is toothless, the UN General Assembly is powerless and the EU is rudderless. Ireland is one of only a small number of countries in the West which has even condemned Israel's multiple breaches of international law. Words of condemnation are important but they are not enough. Words must be followed by action. In this country, enacting the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill is now a matter of urgency. The EU must also act. It is Israel's largest trading partner, with trade between the two amounting to more than €46 billion. Trade is governed by the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which has an essential elements human rights clause in it. This means that either side can unilaterally suspend the agreement in response to serious breaches of human rights. If Israel's destruction in Gaza is not sufficient to trigger that clause now, then nothing ever will be. Israel is also a participant in Horizon Europe, where Israeli institutions can apply for funding under this €95 billion research and innovation scheme. Access to that lucrative programme should also be immediately suspended.

The Taoiseach has publicly stated that Israel is breaching international law. This is not just a violation of its human rights obligations; it is a clear contravention of its trade deal with the EU. There must be consequences for that. I have three questions. Does the Taoiseach agree that the EU's trade deal with Israel should be suspended until Israel complies with international law? Does he agree that Israel's participation in Horizon Europe should also be suspended on similar terms? Will he enact the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill as a matter of urgency?

Ireland condemns the attack by Hamas and other militant groups on Israel and the devastating loss of life that it has caused. Attacks on civilians and the taking of hostages is always wrong.

Israel's right to defend itself, indeed its obligation to defend itself, must be exercised within the parameters of international humanitarian law. All parties in all conflicts must abide by international humanitarian law. Its aim is to protect civilians everywhere. It applies in all conflicts, in all circumstances and to state and non-state actors alike. The situation in Gaza is now critical. It is a deepening humanitarian crisis. The high number of civilian casualties, particularly children, is deeply shocking. The protection of civilians and de-escalation must be the priority, which is why Ireland has called for a humanitarian ceasefire to allow hostages to be released, to allow foreign passport holders to leave, and to allow humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip. We are engaging with the European Union, the United Nations and our regional partners to try to achieve this and in all cases we are calling for a de-escalation.

Regarding trade deals such as the EU trade agreement with Israel, as well as the Horizon programme, these matters are European competences on which Ireland cannot and should not act alone. These are issues we have to discuss at European level and can only possibly be agreed at European level. The truth is that there is a very significant divergence of opinion within the European Union. While we were able to agree on a common statement in Brussels last week, and we all stand by that, the truth is that there are very different views. Very different member states come from very different perspectives on this and that needs to be understood. Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic are coming from a particular perspective. Other countries that have experienced serious terrorist attacks at the hands of other Islamic resistance movements also have a particular perspective on this, and we have a particular perspective on it. It is a good thing that we are a member of the European Union for so many different reasons, because we have a seat at the table. We do have a say when decisions are being made. The position we are at, however, at a European level now is nowhere near taking actions of that nature against Israel. What we are trying to do is to use our seat at the EU table to recentre and rebalance the EU's position and to particularly bring the EU to a position where we are calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in order that the hostages can be released, foreign passport holders can get out, the killing stops and humanitarian aid can get in.

Israel is committing blatant abuses of international law every single second in Gaza. Palestinian civilians are trapped in the world's largest open-air prison, a prison that their jailer is indiscriminately dropping bombs on. More than 25,000 tonnes of explosives have been dropped on Gaza in the past month. When a missile strikes and buildings collapse, there is no fuel or machinery, or anything to dig out the men, women and children who are buried under the rubble. The people who survive the initial strikes are slowly dying under mountains of rubble.

The stench of death is everywhere in Gaza and still the bombs rain down. As we all know that Netanyahu's far-right Government has no intention of stopping this, we must do whatever we can to stop this massacre. That means using every means at our disposal to exert whatever influence we can. I know that around the Israel-EU trade agreement, that would happen at an EU level and that is why I am raising this with the Taoiseach to see if he will raise it at the next European Council meeting, to request the suspension of Israel's trade deal with the EU on the basis of its breach of the clear and unambiguous human rights clause in that agreement.

That is at EU level. At a national level we could introduce the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill. There are several things the Taoiseach could do and given what is going on, will the Taoiseach please address those two particular issues in his reply?

I thank the Deputy. We will do all we can as a country to try to bring an end to this conflict and to try to ensure there is peace with justice, so that both Israelis and Palestinians can live in secure and viable states. However, we are so far away from that at the moment. The priority now has to be a humanitarian ceasefire so that hostages can be released, so that foreign citizens can leave, so that we can get humanitarian aid in and, most of all, so that the killing can stop. We are using our influence at EU level and UN level to do the best we can to secure that. We have also significantly increased our contribution in terms of humanitarian aid to Palestine. As I said, when it comes to any trade issues, they are European competences and not something we can act on, nor should we act on, alone. The EU position has evolved in the past couple of weeks.

I hope it will evolve again. The main thing we need to get the EU behind, and it is not yet behind, is the call for a humanitarian ceasefire and that will be what we will be pushing at the next meeting of the European Council.