The renewed slaughter in Gaza has now claimed hundreds more lives since Benjamin Netanyahu broke the ceasefire on 18 March. In that time we have seen the overall death toll from Israeli attacks break 50,000, the UN Human Rights Council reporting on the destruction of maternal and reproductive healthcare facilities and now another war crime with the massacre of Red Crescent medical workers. The lies that were told by the Israel Defense Forces about the circumstances of their deaths have now been revealed.

The renewed killing by the Israeli Government has entirely undercut its justification of the war in seeking to free hostages, a point made clear by the tens of thousands of Israeli citizens demonstrating against the broken ceasefire. In the recent past Ireland had taken a leadership role within the EU. We led in the call for the review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. We participated in the International Court of Justice, ICJ, case on the occupation that was decided last July. In May of last year we finally recognised the State of Palestine. However, that active role has changed since the US presidential election and particularly since the general election here.

I put it to the Minister that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have made a conscious choice that Ireland will take no more political leadership on Gaza in the lifetime of this Government. I put it to her that the Government will never pass an occupied territories Bill - not the comprehensive version that has already cleared the Seanad, and not the weak watered-down version proposed in the programme for Government. In the face of war crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocide, we should be redoubling our efforts, but the Government is stepping back. It is time for honesty now. We know what is happening in Gaza is a monumental crime. Does our country still stand for a world in which powerful states cannot trample over human rights and extinguish thousands of lives or do we allow this new fear created by global strongmen to overpower the deep-seated humanitarian instincts of the Irish people?

If I am wrong in my belief that this Government will take no more political steps to support Palestine, I ask the Minister to tell me how she can prove to me that I am wrong. Once committees are established, I ask her to commit here today to a Committee Stage debate on the current occupied territories Bill and let the Opposition bring forward amendments to deal with issues that have been raised. If she is not prepared to do that, can she at least tell us when the Minister for foreign affairs will bring forward the Government's watered-down version of the occupied territories Bill for debate in this House so we can assess what benefit, if any, it can bring to pressurising Israel to stop its slaughter?

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. At the outset I acknowledge his role and leadership in the previous Government, ensuring Ireland was to the fore in supporting Palestine and supporting a two-state solution while calling for the unconditional release of hostages. However, I utterly reject his assertion that this Government has in any way changed in that position or that view. I assure him, other Deputies in the House and every other person listening that this remains an absolute priority and is central to our foreign policy in the Department of foreign affairs and in the work that we do as a Government. In fact, this issue will be raised at the Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg on Monday which the Tánaiste will attend and where they will engage with Palestinian authorities. The Tánaiste will be relaying our very clear commitment to a peaceful solution, a two-state solution and the absolute need for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza but also the unconditional release of hostages.

Like the Deputy, I am utterly appalled by the resumption of air strikes by Israel and I utterly condemn that. I utterly condemn the murder of aid workers and hospital workers in recent weeks, including people with bullet wounds who were found with their hands bound. These were not people who were shooting at anyone; these were aid workers who were there to protect people. Really, this is a war on children. In the first week after air strikes resumed, 1,000 children were maimed or murdered and thousands more are at risk now. Millions are at risk of starvation. Our priority and our focus have not changed and will not change.

The Deputy will ask what we have done. In recent weeks and months alone, we have given €20 million more in funding to UNRWA. Even though it is not being allowed at the moment, this is the only organisation that we know can support Palestinians. That is on top of the €72 million in funding that has previously been provided to protect.

The Deputy mentioned the ICJ case. The Attorney General made an interjection and as part of that, following the ruling, on 28 May last year we recognised the State of Palestine. We have been constantly pushing forward when other countries are pushing back. We have worked collectively with our colleagues in Europe, in particular Spain and Norway. We have used our platforms, in European Councils, elsewhere on the international stage or in the visits that have happened in recent weeks and months to make our position absolutely clear: what is happening is wrong. The murder of innocent children and civilians is wrong. The resumption of air strikes is wrong. The preventing of humanitarian aid into Gaza is wrong. The fact that hostages have not been released is utterly wrong. I condemn Hamas and the fact that it is continuing to cause this, and continuing to inflict pain and harm.

Our focus must be on making sure that the ceasefire deal, which brought about some bit of reprieve and a stay and a pause for the millions of people, is resumed and put back in place so that aid can be immediately resumed to the millions of people who are suffering and that the hostages can be released.

We see slaughter in Gaza every single day. In light of that, it is not enough to rely on the things we did last year. The occupied territories Bill is a concrete act that fulfils our obligations under international law - legal obligations that were made clear to us last July by the decision of the International Court of Justice. Three weeks ago, just down the hallway, the UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese told me and other Members of the Oireachtas that if things keep going this way, it will be the end of Palestinians in Palestine. Those were her exact words. We do not need to look at the images on our screens. We have been warned in this very building about what is at stake for the people of Palestine.

However, in the face of mounting atrocities the Government's response is to step back from the leadership role. This is most clearly demonstrated by the fact that this Government will never pass any occupied territories Bill.

It is in the programme for Government and we have said very clearly that we will implement it. The Tánaiste will meet with Senator Black in the coming days. Senator Black is the Member of the Seanad who brought forward this Bill. She is very clear that we need to get this right and that this is not straightforward. The Deputy is right: it is because of the ruling of the ICJ that the situation, the dynamic, we are working in has changed and that we are now able to bring forward this legislation but we need to get it right. We need to make sure that there are not unintended consequences and that the objective of the Bill is to help to bring about a lasting peace and solution. That must continue to be our focus and our priority.

As referred to earlier in the week, with the hatred that has now been instilled in so many people, it is difficult to see a solution or a way forward, but we must keep that focus. We must keep that ambition and that priority. In Luxembourg on Monday when this is discussed at the meeting of the European Foreign Affairs Council, that is exactly what the Tánaiste will be doing. That is exactly why he travelled to the Middle East recently, not just to engage with our soldiers who are there on peacekeeping missions, but to make it clear that our objective is to work with every single person here to try to bring about a peaceful solution and to end the suffering of millions of people.