I hope and expect that there will be tens of thousands of people assembling in Parnell Square this Saturday at 1 p.m. to march in solidarity with the people of Gaza and Palestine as they face the horror being inflicted on them by the State of Israel. I will ask the Minister one of the questions they are going to be asking this Saturday. How many Palestinians does Israel have to massacre, how many atrocities does it have to commit and how much evidence that Israel is engaged in a genocidal attack on the people of Gaza and, increasingly, people in the West Bank does the Government need before it will do something and take any action whatsoever to sanction this murderous regime for the slaughter it is inflicting on thousands and thousands of Palestinians?

On 18 October, the Government proposed a motion talking about Israel's right to self-defence. At the time, we proposed an amendment and argued that Israel was not engaged in anything like self-defence but rather was continuing and accelerating a genocidal attack to reinforce its system of apartheid and occupation and its ongoing war crimes against, and ethnic cleansing of, the Palestinian people. At the time, we called for the expulsion of the ambassador, the prosecution of Israel for war crimes and other sanctions. We got seven votes. Last night, 55 Deputies voted to expel the Israeli ambassador, to sanction Israel and to refer it to the International Criminal Court for war crimes and genocide but the Government still voted against that motion.

Will the Minister explain to me what level of atrocity Israel has to commit, how many babies it has to murder, how many hospitals and houses it has to bomb and how many people it has to ethnically cleanse before the Government will think it is time to impose the sort of sanctions it was very quick to impose on Russia in response to Putin's invasion of Ukraine? Are Palestinian babies and lives less valuable than those of Ukrainians? Is that why the Government does not feel sanctioning Israel for the crimes it is committing is justified in the face of this slaughter? Will he please explain to me and to the thousands who have been on the streets and who will be on the streets again this Saturday how the Government can justify inaction in the face of slaughter and massacre?

I thank Deputy Boyd Barrett. We can all agree that the scenes we are witnessing on television and on our social media feeds are simply shocking. To be frank, I find it very hard to watch the news these days. Tomorrow is the ninth birthday of Emily Hand, a beautiful young child we believe is being held captive by Hamas in Gaza. As the Deputy will know, our Tánaiste is in the Middle East right now, putting in the hard yards and the hard work of international diplomacy. He is trying to make progress in securing the passage of the remaining Irish citizens in Gaza, advocating for peace and having many difficult conversations with those he needs to talk to on behalf of the Irish Government to advocate for peace and for a ceasefire because the humanitarian situation we are witnessing in Gaza is simply appalling.

Israel has a right to defend itself. What Hamas did on 7 October is unspeakable. The Tánaiste is visiting some of the sites where those massacres by Hamas took place. However, in defending itself, Israel has to act in accordance with international humanitarian law. Ireland, the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the entire Government have been very consistent and clear on that.

On the calls to expel the Israeli ambassador, international diplomacy and maintaining channels of communication is not about staying close to your friends or endorsing policies. It is about keeping channels open for when you need them and we need them now because, in trying to secure the safe passage out of Gaza of the remaining Irish citizens there and in trying to be heard in advocating for peace, it is important that we continue to communicate and have dialogue with all of those in the region. We have approximately 400 peacekeepers, Irish men and women, in the region so Ireland has to maintain diplomatic relations with Israel. However, when we see the need, we will also call Israel out. In our view, the level of force that has been used is completely disproportionate. Civilians should be protected. Gaza and Hamas are not the same thing. The civilians in Gaza should not be subjected to collective punishment by the Israeli Defense Forces.

Ireland is an important actor. We have a voice and we are being listened to. Our Tánaiste, who is there at the moment, deserves the steadfast and fulsome support of everyone in this House in what he is seeking to achieve. He is advocating for peace and trying to secure the release of all hostages and secure passage for the remaining Irish citizens from Gaza through the Rafah crossing into Egypt. He is having those difficult conversations right now in the Middle East.

The Minister is still doing it. He is still talking about Israel's self-defence. Apartheid, which is what the Israeli system is based on, has no more right to defend itself than apartheid in South Africa did. Illegal occupation does not have the right to defend itself, nor does ethnic cleansing or a state built on ethnic cleansing. The people who have a right to defend themselves are the people who are victims of those things. Who are the victims and the oppressed here? The Palestinians are. They are the ones being ethnically cleansed. They are the people at the wrong end of apartheid, the ones under illegal occupation and the ones who have been killed with impunity for years and years. They are being killed in the West Bank, where there is no Hamas. Why does the Government continue to peddle the notion that Israel is interested in peace when everything it is doing makes it clear that it is involved in a massive programme of terrorist ethnic cleansing to drive the Palestinians out of Gaza and out of the West Bank in order to expand the borders of Israel, as it has been doing every single year since 1948? When is the world going to wake up to this? The Minister did not answer me. Setting aside the issue of the ambassador, why are there sanctions on Putin for his war crimes when no sanction whatsoever has ever been imposed on Israel, even now as it is slaughtering thousands of children?

The Government is supporting the people of Palestine. We are providing funding. This week, the Government announced additional funding for the International Criminal Court and the Tánaiste has announced €13 million in humanitarian assistance funding for the Palestinian people, comprising €10 million for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and €3 million for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. We are providing direct practical support for the people of Palestine. For some time now, we have been very clear in what we have been calling for. We are seeing more and more EU countries and other jurisdictions coming to the view that Ireland has been espousing, which is that there should be a complete and immediate humanitarian ceasefire. The guns and the bombs should stop. Ultimately, the only way to achieve peace is through dialogue.

We know about this on our own island. We know our history. Ireland is a respected voice on this issue because of our own historical experience on this island. We are continuing to work through all of those channels and we are glad that 23 Irish citizens left Gaza yesterday through the Rafah Border Crossing and we expect that more will be in a position to do so today. We want to see the release of all of the hostages, including little Emily Hand, and all of the others.