Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

International humanitarian law is not being defended as long as countries watch while war crimes and crimes against humanity are perpetrated against the people of Gaza. Today, 170 bodies, including those of newborns, are being buried in a mass grave near Al-Shifa Hospital after vital hospital equipment failed due to bombardment and power cuts, bringing the death toll to over 11,000 people, including 4,630 children. The call we are making here is not being done in the absence of evidence, or in the absence of key figures in the international community asserting that what the people of Gaza are being subject to amounts to war crimes. The United Nations Secretary General spoke of his deep concerns about the clear violations of international humanitarian law. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has said that sieges endangering civilians, collective punishment by Israel and forcible evacuation of civilians amount to war crimes. The prosecutor of the ICC has called upon state parties to the court, and non-state parties, to help collectively to vindicate the Geneva Conventions, the principles of international law and the Rome Statute, and to share evidence regarding any crimes so that the court can properly investigate and prosecute them as appropriate.

I call on everyone here to act on those concerns and support our call to refer the situation in Palestine to the prosecutor of the ICC. If we fail to do so, and every country does the same, what purpose does international law serve? Ireland, as a state party to the Rome Statute of the ICC, needs to play its role in setting a precedent and to act, even if others fail to do so. Most immediately, we must reiterate our demand for immediate ceasefires, the immediate release of all hostages, and the unconditional adherence by all parties to their commitments under international law.

We need to call time on the world leaders who have the heft to influence Israel but fail to act effectively. My question to those international leaders is how many deaths need to happen before they act. We must act. We must use the avenues available to us, including the ICC, to make a stand.

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