Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The rise in the death toll in Gaza has been truly horrific this week. Last night, we learned again about more bombardments and bombardments of areas in the south of the Gaza Strip where civilians had been told to move and told that it was for their safety. We have seen more children killed. We saw horrific images last night of individual tragedies such as the family of the Al Jazeera journalist Wael Al-Dahdouh, who were killed, including his son, Mahmoud, who had been filmed earlier in the week appealing to western leaders to keep him, his sister and other children alive in Gaza. We are seeing such an appalling and unbearable catastrophe in Gaza. UNRWA says it will have to cease aid operations and cease hospital services if fuel does not come in. I know the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach are pushing at European level but they must push harder to ensure the calls at EU level are made robustly and clearly for a ceasefire to ensure aid can be brought in to alleviate the unbearable suffering of the people of Gaza.

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