The death toll in Gaza has reached more than 30,000 people. Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas in the world and under Israeli bombardment, its people have been brutally displaced and forced into ever more cramped and overcrowded spaces, most recently into Rafah. They are still being bombarded, even now in Rafah. We are witnessing Armageddon. There is nowhere left for a desperate civilian population to go in Gaza.

On 7 October, we saw the horrific Hamas attack on Israel and since 7 October, we have seen the loss of civilian life in Gaza on an unthinkable and unconscionable scale. In recent days, we heard the heartbreaking audio of the last hours of six-year-old Hind Rajab, pleading for help hours before she and her two rescuers were killed by Israeli fire, along with five members of her family.

Back in October, the Dáil voted to call for a ceasefire. In doing so, we were one of the first parliaments in the world to make that call but while making calls is important, it is taking action that counts. As long as Ireland delays taking further meaningful steps to put an end to the genocide in Gaza, our complicity in what is happening there is prolonged. There is so much more that the Government can and should be doing, and it would have the support of the Opposition in doing so.

For the Irish Independent today, Ellen Coyne writes that the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF, has invested more than €4 million in companies based in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. These illegal settlements represent the thin end of the wedge of the same policies of the Israeli Government, policies which have resulted in the slaughter of so many children in Gaza, children like Hind Rajab. These Israeli Government policies are breaching humanitarian law, displacing people from their homes and destroying families and communities. By enabling the subsidising of businesses in occupied territories, Ireland is complicit and we know that complicity does not chime with the values of people here in Ireland.

While I acknowledge the Taoiseach’s engagement on measures such as the recognition of Palestinian statehood, it is not good enough to say “Wait a little longer”. How long must people in Gaza wait? The death toll is mounting, starvation is setting in and disease is spreading there. We in Ireland must take further action. We must move on legislation to stop Ireland from subsidising genocide and to end trade with occupied territories in Palestine. The Government has said it would prefer to take action on these issues by non-legislative means but there are perfectly good Bills waiting to be passed. I have received a legal opinion which indicates that the occupied territories Bill, initiated by Senator Frances Black, is possible to pass under EU law, so let us do it. Let us move to pass the occupied territories Bill. Will the Taoiseach commit to doing so? At the next European Council meeting, will he press for the suspension of the EU-Israel trade association agreement? We need to do more than call for a ceasefire. There is a solid view on both sides of this House that we need to take action now. We are hearing from so many people across the country of their utter distress and horror at the genocide unfolding before our eyes. We cannot sit back and be complicit.

I share the Deputy’s distress and horror at the events that we are seeing unfold in Gaza. The ground assault on Rafah should not happen; 1.5 million people are taking refuge there, most of them already displaced from other parts of Gaza and some displaced on more than one occasion. There is a serious risk of a massacre occurring in Rafah if a ground assault were to occur, and that would be a gross violation of international law on top of all the other violations of international law for which Israel is responsible.

We were among the first countries in the world and among the first parliaments in the world to call for a ceasefire. That is correct. There is now a ceasefire proposal on the table, negotiated by Egypt, Qatar and the Americans. Both Hamas and Israel should accept that ceasefire offer, in my view. It will last for three months and will allow the hostages to be released, and they should be released, the killing to stop and aid to get in to Palestinian civilians. Then there is the possibility to build on that three-month ceasefire, make it permanent, enable the removal of the Hamas leadership and fighters from Gaza and, potentially, new elections in Israel.

In terms of the actions that we are taking, we have taken many actions. We have increased funding for the UN and UNRWA in Gaza and the West Bank when other countries have suspended their funding, incorrectly in my view. We have voiced our position and voted in support of the Palestinian people at the UN and the EU. We have called for the EU-Israel association agreement to be suspended, based on our view that Israel may be in violation of the human rights clause within that, and I spoke to the European Commission President on that only yesterday. It does, however, require unanimity at EU level to do so and, as the Deputy is aware, there is not unanimity at EU level to do so.

In relation to the International Criminal Court, the Attorney General will be in the Hague on 22 February to make our case before that court in regard to Israel's ongoing occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

We will certainly review what the Deputy mentioned in relation to ISIF and trade. Our advice from the Attorney General, the previous Attorney General and the Attorney General before that was that trade is very clearly an EU competence and is not in the competence of this Parliament to legislate for. We all need to be realistic. These are the actions we are taking and they are considerable, and we will take more. Recognition, alongside other countries, is one of the things we are working on at the moment and discussing with other countries and EU allies. It is clear to me, though, that Israel is not listening to any country in the world. I do not even think they are listening to the Americans any more. They have become blinded by rage and are going to make their own security situation much worse in the long term by going down the path they are going.

I certainly acknowledge that Ireland's response to the humanitarian disaster in Gaza has been strong - stronger than that of many other European countries - but it is still not strong enough. It was important that the Dáil and the Government called for a ceasefire and that the Taoiseach and his Government colleagues defended UNRWA when other countries were not doing so, and we acknowledge that from the Opposition. I am glad to hear the Taoiseach spoke yesterday with the President of the EU Commission on the EU-Israel trade agreement, but we need to do more. The Taoiseach has spoken previously in the House on working with like-minded EU member states on seeking to press further at EU level. What actions are ongoing? With which EU member states is the Government working? We understand Belgium may be one.

Now is the time for us to see further action being taken. The Taoiseach stated that Israel is not listening, but it will have to listen if enough countries in the West which currently support it withdraw their support. I am thinking in particular of the US and EU countries, with which Ireland has influence. It is possible for the Taoiseach and the Government to use their influence to a higher and stronger degree; otherwise, we are all complicit in sitting and watching an Armageddon unfold and children such as young Hind Rajab continuing to suffer and die under our watch and that of the world. We need to go further. There are actions we could take here at home, such as passing the occupied territories Bill, and there are actions the Government can take at EU level.

We have taken considerable actions to date and we will take more. As I stated, the Attorney General will represent Ireland at the International Criminal Court in The Hague on 22 February to make the case against the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. We are in discussions with other EU member states about recognising statehood and doing it in a meaningful way. Spain is the main country with which we are discussing that. It would not be fair of me to disclose the names of the other countries; it is for them to do so. Suffice to say that Belgium, which currently holds the Presidency, would not be in a position to do so while it holds the Presidency.

We need to be honest about the situation we see unfolding in the Middle East. We have taken action and we will even take more action but it is clear to me that the Israeli Government does not listen to us or the rest of the world. It probably does not even listen to the Americans any more. That is what makes the situation all the more dangerous and worrying. We need to be honest with people about that, too. I am concerned that there are people who shout at us and abuse us on the streets. Maybe they do not do it to the Deputy but they certainly do it to me and my colleagues. They believe there is some action we can take that will change Benjamin Netanyahu's mind. That is incorrect and I do not think people should spread that idea. It is irresponsible, actually.

It is incomprehensible that a regime which has for four months inflicted a slaughter on the people of Gaza that has claimed the lives of close to 30,000 people, displaced almost 2 million people and brought an entire population to the brink of famine, and which is in the dock, indicted for genocide, the worst crime a state or human being can commit, is contemplating yet another massacre of people in Gaza, specifically those in Rafah, where more than 1 million people are cowering under tents and amid rubble and the bodies of the slaughtered and the maimed. The Israeli regime is planning to do it again. What kind of regime is capable of that atrocity?

What kind of regime thinks it could get away with a genocide in front of the world and, when it is indicted for genocide, wants to continue? The answer is a regime for which there are never any consequences, ever. Words of criticism, even the quite strong language used by the Minister, Deputy Coveney, and others today, mean nothing, as the Taoiseach rightly said, to Netanyahu, Smotrich and Ben-Gvir. Ministers today in the Israeli Government are saying they want to destroy Gaza, adding to the litany of incitements to genocide made by that Government over the past four months. Why do they continue? Why do they think they can do it again? It is because there are never any consequences. The United States continues to give them arms and weapons, as do European states like Germany and Britain. The European Union gives Israel favoured trade status and nobody imposes any sanctions.

One of the things that this country can be most proud of is what the Dunnes Stores workers did in the mid-1980s when they went on strike for two years, forcing Ireland to become the first country in the world to impose comprehensive sanctions on apartheid South Africa, which began a domino effect that led to the dismantling of the apartheid regime. Guess who held out until the bitter end to defend that obnoxious regime? The United States and Britain, the same countries that are effectively giving licence to Israel to continue with its atrocities now. Be brave and do what this country did with apartheid South Africa in the mid-1980s, which helped to bring down that regime, admit that Israel is an apartheid state, an uncivilised state and a barbaric state and that it should have sanctions imposed on it to end the apartheid, end the occupation and end the possibility of the sort of genocidal slaughter we have seen for the past four months.

As I said earlier, there is a ceasefire proposal on the table negotiated by the Egyptians, Qataris and Americans. It is our strong view that Israel and Hamas should both accept that ceasefire proposal. It will allow the killing to stop. It will allow refugees, or at least some of them, to return to their homes and it will allow aid, which is desperately needed by Palestinian civilians, to get in. It will also facilitate the release of more than 100 Israeli hostages who have been held for more than three months now, against their will, by Hamas. If we can secure that three-month ceasefire, there is a real possibility of that becoming permanent. That will, of course, require the removal of the Hamas leadership and fighters from that territory.

I echo the comments of the Minister, Deputy Coveney, earlier today. I do not believe that you respond to a massacre with more massacres and I do not believe that you can defeat a monster by behaving like a monster yourself. We will continue to work with our partners in the EU and other parts of the world to do what we can do that we believe will be effective.

On trade sanctions, the Deputy will be aware that trade is an EU competence and has been since the Single European Act.

None of the horror that has happened over the past four months would have happened if western governments, including the European Union and the United States, had not given impunity to Israel for years. Long before the current horrific escalation of violence, Israel was indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity for its occupation, apartheid and ethnic cleansing, which has been going on for decades. The world did not sanction Israel. This Government refused to even use the word "apartheid" when it is blatantly an apartheid regime, it is blatant that the siege of Gaza was collective punishment of 2 million people and it is blatant that the Israeli Government is engaged in an ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing. Impunity was granted and that has given Netanyahu and the crazed, bloodthirsty Ministers in his Government, who are his lieutenants, the confidence to believe that they can continue with this massacre. We have to impose sanctions on this regime and admit it is not a normal state and it is an apartheid, colonial, brutal regime, and that if we want to see peace, as we do, it has to mean the end of that apartheid regime and there can be equality between Jews, Muslims, Christians and people of no religion who can share the land of Palestine as equals.

We would not accept anything less anywhere else. We did not accept it in South Africa. It has to be imposed by western governments. This Government cannot simply say: "Oh there's nothing we can do". That impunity is what has given Israel the licence to continue with this horror.

There are countries in the world that invade other countries, that engage in international terrorism - countries like Russia and Iran for example - and they do not need the sanction or tacit support of the West or western countries to do that. That is a position Deputy Boyd Barrett is entitled to hold, but it is not the case that there are not countries that are anti-West, that do not invade other countries and do not engage in international acts of terrorism. That is just a simple fact.

The West is arming Israel.

In relation to the single-state solution, I think that is naive. It is a really nice idea. It might be the kind of thing that Deputy Boyd Barrett and I would sign up to, being secular people, but it is very evident to me that the people of Israel do not want a single-state solution, they want a Jewish state, and most Palestinians, many of whom voted for Hamas in the last election, want an Islamic state. That is the reality of it.

I heard what the Deputy said - that the West should impose it on them - but is that not exactly why we have so many problems in the world, because the West tried to impose its solutions on other parts of the world, whether it was partition or imposing systems of government that people do not want? It is a funny form of imperialism that the Deputy is actually advocating himself, that the West should impose on people in Israel and Palestine a system or a statehood that they do not want.

I am saying we should end apartheid.