Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As Israel continues to lay waste to Gaza and its medical infrastructure, there are 50,000 pregnant women who cannot access basic health services and proper care. Now, Al-Awda Hospital, the only hospital in northern Gaza left providing maternity services, will shut down as fuel runs out. The trauma and the horror experienced by Gazan women is the stuff of nightmares. It is a living nightmare. Women are undergoing Caesarian sections without anaesthesia. Emergency sections are being performed on dying pregnant women hit by Israeli airstrikes. Doctors perform maternity procedures often under the light of a cellphone, without access to clean water to wash their hands or antibiotics to prevent infection.

Israel's bombardment is not defence. This is vicious revenge. We are witnessing war crimes and Israel must be held accountable for its actions. An unequivocal ceasefire is needed now. We agree on that. Can the Taoiseach set out the sanctions the State is prepared to take against Israel to hold it to account?

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