Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Social Democrats for bringing this motion and I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in support of it. Most, if not all, of us are horrified by the devastation inflicted by the Israeli Government on the people of Gaza in recent weeks. Gaza is now a graveyard with men, women, children, old people and disabled buried under the remains of Gaza city. We have Israeli bombs pounding on a terrified trapped population; hospitals deliberately targeted and destroyed; schools being used as shelters obliterated; snipers firing deliberately into the Al-Shifa Hospital using medical staff and doctors inside as target practice; no medicines or pain medication; amputations and caesarean sections performed without anaesthetic; new-born babies in incubators dying because there is no electricity; children's names written on their arms and hands so that they might be identified in death; babies being pulled from the bellies of their dead mothers, motherless before they even take their first breath; and the Israeli Government telling Gazans to evacuate only to bomb them as they flee. Gazans cannot even wash the ever-present dust from explosions from their eyes or mouths, nor the blood from the bodies of the wounded or dead because there is no water. There is no food, no water, no medicine and no humanitarian aid. These actions are the very definition of war crimes and they must be stopped.

Added to that, we heard the boastful tone of the Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, when speaking of the 10,000 tonnes of bombs dropped by Israeli forces since 7 October - the explosive equivalent of two Hiroshimas on an area barely one third the size of Dublin. It is hard to imagine the devastation. How much more must Palestine and her people endure before it becomes too much? It is blatantly obvious that Israel's continued unabated bombardment of Gaza makes the position of the Israeli ambassador to Ireland, at the very least, untenable. Israel must face consequences for its continued unconscionable failures to observe humanitarian and international law. Sinn Féin has called for an immediate ceasefire and the release of hostages. I urge all in this House to support Sinn Féin's motion and this motion. I echo the statement of my colleague, Deputy Carthy, in saying that in our thousands and in our millions, we are all Palestinians.

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