David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and echo his words to the effect that this is a welcome opportunity for Senators to take part in the debate on this matter. I appeal to him to support a recall of the Dáil. If, as has been stated, this is a welcome opportunity for Senators, then Members of the Lower House should also be given the chance to have their say on the appalling human catastrophe taking place in Gaza.

I fully understand why some people want to achieve what they perceive to be balance and proportionality in respect of this issue. However, this matter does not involve either of the latter. Rather, it relates to the truth, facts and reality with regard to what is happening in Gaza. Since 8 July last some 1,300 Palestinian people have been slaughtered by the Israeli state and its military. The vast majority of those individuals were innocent civilians - men, women and children. A total of 22,000 homes have been destroyed and 130 schools, six hospitals and a number of UN shelters have been attacked. On Monday last 100 innocent civilians were killed. Entire families have been wiped out. Yesterday, we witnessed the targeting - deliberately, in my view - of a shelter which resulted in the deaths of 17 people. Despite the fact that the coordinates of the shelter in question were made known to the Israeli Defence Forces, they still decided to bomb it. Some 3,000 individuals who had been forced to flee their homes by those same forces were in the shelter when it was subjected to this indiscriminate attack. That is the reality of the catastrophe and the human suffering taking place in Gaza at present. This is not a war, it is a massacre that is being perpetrated by the State of Israel and its military forces.

There was a humanitarian crisis in Gaza long before the events we have witnessed since 8 July began. The 1.8 million citizens of Gaza live on a tiny strip of land measuring 10 km by 40 km. They are hemmed in and obliged to survive without basic supplies, shelter or accommodation. They also lack access to proper food and medical supplies. Then there is the wall, which prevents them from leaving Gaza and others from entering it. In addition, Gaza is the subject of an illegal blockade or siege. Its 1.8 million citizens are the subject of humiliation, torture and oppression. Gaza is both a living hell and the biggest open-air prison in the world. As already stated, the humanitarian crisis to which I refer has been in existence since long before 8 July. It will continue to exist for the next five, ten or 20 years unless the Israelis change their policy and accept a real peace process. That process must involve justice for the Palestinian people.

The events of recent weeks, including the killing of so many innocent people by the State of Israel, do not relate to Hamas, rocket attacks or tunnels. Rather, they relate to the continued occupation of the Palestinian Territories and the ongoing oppression of the Palestinian people, including the citizens of Gaza. The events to which I refer also constitute a form of collective punishment on the people of Gaza as a result of how they voted in an election and represent an attempt on the part of the current Israeli Government to break the national unity government in Palestine.

That is what the killings are about. They are not about Israel defending itself. We all accept that any state has a right to defend itself, but this is about the state of Israel slaughtering innocent people in Gaza because it believes it can. In the face of that human suffering, what was the response of the Minister and the State at the Human Rights Council of the United Nations? The Minister, shamefully and cowardly, abstained in the vote. He hides behind the fact that the resolution did not condemn the killings on all sides, but it did. He also hides behind the fact that he wanted to have a collective European Union response. What is the point in having a Minister for Foreign Affairs or a Department of Foreign Affairs if we cannot act independently, make up our own minds and stand on our own two feet? The Minister had a responsibility to represent the views of Irish citizens and failed to do so. That is shameful and a matter for him to answer. What he needs to do is to support an unconditional humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. He needs to make sure there is a proper peace process. The unity government in Palestine has called for Gaza to be declared a disaster zone. That is something to which we should force the United Nations to agree.