Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

More than 5,000 Palestinians have been killed. More than 2,000 Palestinian children are dead. More than 1,000 Palestinian women are dead. More than 15,000 Palestinians have been injured. Almost 2 million Palestinians have been displaced. This is the depressing toll of human suffering inflicted on the people of Gaza over the past two weeks.

The people of Ireland were rightly outraged and condemned the horrific attacks on Israeli civilians by Hamas on 7 October. However, there is no justification for the onslaught being rained down on Gaza by Israel's military machine. Israel's bombardment is not defence. The killing of more than 2,000 innocent children is not defensive. We have all seen the pictures of inconsolable parents carrying the broken bodies of their dead children. We have seen the film of a heartbroken little girl crying out in search of her mama following an airstrike. We have seen the footage of a traumatised little boy covered in dust and debris asking a doctor, "Am I still alive?".

Gazan parents are writing names on their children's legs and abdomens so they can be identified after airstrikes. As a mother, I cannot imagine how it feels to write your child's name on their body while they are warm and breathing so that you might know them when they are cold and still. This is not defence; this is a massacre.

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