Táim chun filleadh ar ábhar Gaza agus ar an ár atá ar siúl faoi láthair, ár a thosaigh ar an lá seo mí ó shin agus ár a chuir Hamas tús leis nuair a maraíodh 1,400 duine. Tá sé sin cáinte go láidir agam ach tá Iosrael anois tar éis leanúint ar aghaidh leis an ár atá á dhéanamh aige ar feadh míosa. Tá sé ráite ag António Guterres gurb ionann Gaza agus reilig do ghasúir. Tá páiste beag, buachaill nó cailín, ag fáil bás chuile deich nóiméad. Dar le Guterres, is géarchéim dhaonnúil é an tromluí atá ag tarlú i nGaza ach, níos measa fós, is géarchéim don chine daonna iad na himpleachtaí a bhaineann leis an rud atá ag tarlú.

I praise the Taoiseach for leadership in calling out what is happening with regard to Israel. It was a little belated but it has happened and the Taoiseach has done that and shown leadership at a time when it is needed but we need to do a lot more. I am standing here today a month after the slaughter of 1,400 Israelis, which I am on record as condemning. I am equally on record for condemning what Israel has done, which is totally against international law, disproportionate and unacceptable on any level. In one month, we have lost 4,237 children, which is one child every ten minutes. This is not self-defence. This is not a defence army. It is a warmongering army. We have lost 10,328 Palestinians in total, 37 journalists and 89 employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, UNRWA, with approximately 25,408 people injured, not to mention the 1.5 million people who have been displaced and so on. There has been indiscriminate bombing of civilians, homes, hospitals, refugee camps and schools, which is entirely against international humanitarian law.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations has said that Gaza is becoming a graveyard for children. He said:

The nightmare in Gaza is more than a humanitarian crisis. It is a crisis of humanity.

I am asking for us to use our voice. We cannot wait for Europe to mature and get its act together. We need to use our voices to call for an immediate ceasefire to stop the indiscriminate bombing of civilians, hospitals and houses.

In destroying Hamas, it is destroying Gaza and the Palestinian people. On what level is that acceptable? I ask for the Taoiseach and all of us here to stand together and make it clear to Israel that we are not behind this and will not support it. There are many things that can be done. Deputy Cairns has mentioned the trade agreement. That is something the Taoiseach can look at immediately. There is also a resolution at the UN he can look at. Tiocfaidh mé ar ais.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue again. I recognise her long-standing interest in the political situation in the Middle East. In seeing what we see on TV news and social media every day, all of us cannot help but be struck by the number of children being killed, children who are often pretty thin and malnourished for other reasons, and by the number of journalists and UN aid workers who have been killed. Those aid workers who stayed behind in Gaza are real heroes having not only risked their lives, but lost them. I have enormous fears. How long is this going to go on? How is this going to end? Will there be an escalation, perhaps involving Hezbollah, Lebanon or other countries or groups around the world? I have great fears in that regard. Furthermore, when the war in Gaza is over, who is going to run Gaza and who is going to rebuild it? I am not sure anyone has answers to these questions and that makes me very concerned about the road the world is currently on. I know the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, promised "mighty vengeance". Those are his words, not mine. That is valid when it comes to Hamas, the terrorists who killed those 1,400 people in Israel, but it is not when it comes to Palestinian civilians, far too many of whom have already been killed in this conflict.

Ireland is certainly using its voice. The Tánaiste and I are working hard on this, as is the whole Government, at EU and UN level. We have increased our aid budget for Palestine and Gaza and the money we give to the UN. We are also using our voice at the UN, at EU level and in bilateral engagements to press for what is now urgently needed, which is a humanitarian ceasefire to allow aid in and to allow hostages to be released. Hamas should release the hostages without any equivocation so that EU citizens and others can be allowed to leave.

While I praise the Taoiseach for his initiative and leadership, we stood idly by for a long time in relation to Israel and we are complicit in that. When Amnesty released its report in February 2022 stating that Israel was operating an apartheid regime, there was no response from Government. There are many examples. When six human rights organisations were designated as terrorist organisations, apart from condemning the act and expressing concern, we did nothing. When the refugee camp in Jenin was attacked, we did nothing other than express concerns and condemnation. There are things we can do. When the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 2023 was brought before us, the Government went for a pregnancy nine-month adjournment rather than grasping the issue, deal with it and do something practical. It was the same thing with the illegal occupation Bill, whose title escapes me.

If the Ceann Comhairle will allow it, I will quote Amnesty remarks on the report that came out nearly two years ago:

The scale and seriousness of the violations documented in our report make it clear that the international community must drastically change its approach ... Through its failure to take any meaningful action to hold Israel to account for its systematic and widespread violations, and crimes under international law, against the Palestinian population, the international community [including Ireland] has contributed to undermining the international legal order, and has emboldened Israel to continue perpetrating these crimes with impunity. Apartheid is a crime against humanity and the international community has an obligation to hold the perpetrators to account.

I hear what the Deputy is saying but I do not think that is a fair assessment of Ireland's position down through the years.

I mention the engagement I have had with the Palestinian Authority, and with President Abbas, for example, whom I met some years ago. There was a strong acknowledgement from the Palestinian Authority and from Palestinians in general that Irish Governments have consistently, for decades now, been supportive of their cause and their desire to have a state of their own within secure and viable borders. That is recognised. When we were campaigning for a seat on the UN Security Council, the one we won, there was a strong sense from Arab countries that Ireland was one of the countries in the European Union and the West that listened to their concerns and took a balanced position on these matters. The Minister of State at the Departments of Rural and Community Development, Social Protection, and Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy Joe O'Brien, has met and engaged with some of the groups that the Deputy has mentioned. We have even provided funding for some of those bodies that have been delisted.

Trade is an EU competence and we can only act on a multilateral level when it comes to something that is clearly an EU issue. On the divestment Bill, there is a timed amendment and we need to give that consideration. We have to bear in mind the consequences of singling out one country of 200. Other countries have questions to answer as well and we would have to give that careful consideration too.