Tom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I echo Senator Dooley's comments about the children who are suffering in Gaza at the moment. We have information from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, from Human Rights Watch and from Amnesty International. The eyes and ears of the world are in Gaza witnessing and uploading in real time pictures of the unfolding catastrophe there. We know that every five and ten minutes at least one child and one woman is killed. Since we convened 20 minutes ago, two children like Emily have lost their lives. I should not say "lost their lives" because that is a passive expression. They have been killed in a predetermined and calculated manner by the Israel Defense Forces who, as I have outlined before, are operating weapons systems in a densely populated urban environment with foreseeable consequences for innocent Palestinian men, women and children.

Again, I will echo something Senator Dooley said. I take note of the statements made by the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste. I am proud as an Irish citizen to see the independent, objective view set out by both. We walk a difficult line, but it underscores the importance of our neutrality. We had a consultative forum on neutrality earlier this year, but now we can see in real time, in the actual experience of foreign policy, how important it is to have our independent neutral status and our voice in the world. Ursula von der Leyen certainly did not represent my views or the views of Irish people during her trip to Tel Aviv. That is important. Hamas can have no role in the future of any two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. Like Islamic State and al-Qaeda, it can have absolutely no role in any capacity in the future.To criticise Hamas is not Islamophobic. To criticise Israel's actions is not antisemitic, nor is it to promote antisemitic views. We have to show moral courage and stick to doing so. I praise the Tánaiste and Taoiseach for their statements.

Between 35 and 40 Irish citizens are trapped in Gaza. They are Irish passport holders. Similar to the Irish citizens who were evacuated from Kabul or Sudan, I know the Department of Foreign Affairs and Minister will be working hard to secure their release. It has come to light that Emily Hand may be alive. We have to think of the hostages too. I hope that Hamas can be persuaded to release these hostages. Both sides are in breach of all the Geneva Conventions. Those on both sides are committing war crimes.

This is going to happen again and again in a destabilised world. We have an increasingly global diaspora. We need to start to think about our citizens in Lebanon. As I have said before, we need to think about our troops in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and about our troops in the UN Truce Supervision Organization and the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force in Syria, because Hezbollah is going to get involved this year. Benjamin Netanyahu said today that he sees Israel having a permanent presence in Gaza. In other words, it will annex Gaza. That will be unacceptable to the Arab world. We will see an escalation of this conflict and we need to prepare for that. I echo Senator Dooley's call for a full and proper debate on the implications of this conflict for Irish citizens and for our neutral status.