Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

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.

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