Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The tragedy that is Gaza's Nakba is being played out for all to see. The atrocities that are being committed by Israel in Gaza are being done with the full knowledge that the world is watching. Gaza has a population of 2.3 million, half of whom are children, in an area that is half the size of County Louth, the smallest county in Ireland. Thousands of them have already been killed by Israeli bombs and tens of thousands more will be forever scarred by the terrible traumas they are witnessing every hour of every day. What sort of future can these children look forward to? Like their parents and grandparents, it will be one of despair, oppression and being treated like animals. Palestinians are being dehumanised like this in order to justify the attacks on civilian areas and the mounting number of civilian deaths. Attacks on civilian areas, hospitals, the wounded, medical personnel and protected areas of war are war crimes, as is blocking access to electricity, fuel and water by Israel.

Across Palestine, land is being stolen as illegal settlements are built almost entirely on what even Israel would regard as Palestinian land. There has been a deliberate and aggressive expansion of settlements that undermines the viability of a Palestinian state under the two-state solution. It also undermines Israel's prospects for peace. There have always been attacks on Palestinian villages by settlers. In recent weeks, however, these attacks have escalated. Settlers have carried out 241 attacks in the West Bank and forced around 1,000 Palestinians to flee their homes. There must be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations for the release of those held by both Israel and Hamas. The solutions to this conflict are already in place, but while there is not the political will to implement the solutions, there will always be conflict in Palestine.

See this speech in context