Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In this day and age, it is very common to give out about social media; to say that it is no good, toxic or divisive; and to complain about misinformation and so on. A lot of that can be the case, but in this instance we need to give social media its due because without it we would not be able to see the horrors happening in real time in Gaza and the West Bank. We are not dependent on the likes of CNN, Sky News or the BBC to show us what is really happening on the ground because the Palestinian people can show that to us. They have been doing that and have been telling us their truth.

At the weekend, I watched a video on Instagram of a young boy, Sami, who is only eight years old. He is an Irish Palestinian citizen. He attends a school in north Dublin. He spoke about how he missed his friends and teacher here in Dublin. He is trapped and terrified, along with so many children in Gaza. Any day could be his last. It was the last day for hundreds of children over the past number of weeks. In the eyes of the Israeli Government and the way it is speaking about children, it views children like Sami as combatants. In the eyes of the Israeli Government, he is guilty of the fact that Hamas was elected as a governing authority of Gaza in 2004, even though he did not vote because he had not even been born. In the eyes of the Israeli foreign minister, he is a human animal. Of course, he is just a little boy.

Social media has also been helpful in other respects. It has allowed us to see the true colour of many. Yesterday, we saw the official Twitter account of the IDF taunt one of the United Nations foremost relief agencies when it warned that if it did not get fuel immediately, it would have to halt its humanitarian operations. What did the IDF official account tweet? It ridiculed it and told it to go and ask Hamas whether it would give it some fuel.

Social media has also allowed us to compare and contrast the principles avowed by many political leaders. In some instances, we have seen how defence against aggression and occupation is declared a right and a cause worthy of celebration, but is not in other instances. The occupier's right to self-defence is considered the be all and end all. It makes me think of the quote: "These are my principles, and if you don't like them I have others".

We need to call for a ceasefire because children like Sami are trapped in Gaza and many children like Sami have been killed as a result of this onslaught. At this moment in time, many people are in absolute desperation because they fear that there is no end to the onslaught in Gaza. I know the Minister of State is aware that we have a strong voice on the international stage in respect of this. We need to use that voice to say loudly and clearly that there needs to be an immediate ceasefire so that more children are not killed and we see an end to this genocide.

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