Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome Mr. Garry Walsh and Mr. Raji Sourani, who painted a very grim picture of a deteriorating situation. The phrase "inhumane siege" was used to describe the position in Gaza, which is temperate language considering the serious loss of life and suffering taking place there. Given the other crises taking place throughout the world, the position in Gaza and Palestine has not featured on the front pages of our newspapers and has not been given the ongoing coverage in the broadcast media that it requires.

It is worth noting some of the figures provided to members in a briefing. A total of 2,251 Palestinians, including 1,462 civilians, were killed in the conflict in 2014. In addition, among the young cohort of the population, 551 children were killed, 3,436 were injured and 1,500 were orphaned. One also has the continued displacement of people and the day-to-day problems facing all sections of society in Gaza. This is a stark reminder of the extremely difficult and totally unacceptable position that many Palestinians face.

What options are available to Ireland to support reconstruction in Gaza and end the economic blockade that has been ongoing for the past eight years? I understand only 1% of the construction materials needed to rebuild Gaza have reached their destination. We are all aware of the great pledges that were made at the pledging conference. As usual, these pledges have not been realised. In fairness to Ireland, successive Governments have honoured our overseas development assistance and humanitarian aid pledges, and this continues to the case. Other countries, as well as the European Union, which has been a good donor, should continue to try to rebuild Gaza.

How can Ireland support efforts to try to ensure accountability for violations of international law in the conflict? Mr. Sourani raised this issue in his concluding remarks. I have in mind the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, in which Ireland participates, and the International Criminal Court.

The European Union is Israel's largest trading partner. Surely, as a union of 28 member states with a population of 500 million, the EU should exert greater pressure to ensure Israel lives up to its obligations under international law. All members, including the Chairman, have raised questions in this committee about products coming to Europe from settlement areas.

Has any country in the European Union introduced realistic labelling obligations to ensure that those products are segregated from others that are imported, via free trade, into the Europe Union? I thank Mr. Walsh and Mr. Sourani for giving us an update on the difficult situation, where many people continue to suffer. It appears there is very little light at the end of the tunnel.