Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gaza is under genocidal attack by Israel. We all welcome what we may have in 24 hours, but that is only a temporary reprieve. We welcome the negotiation that involves Qatar and the United States of America, far better than the billions in weapons they have been providing, alongside political cover and even experts on the ground. All civilians should be released. We hope among the 50 hostages that Emily Hand is released. We know there are more than 150 Palestinian hostages. At this point in time they are in their thousands. Some of them are kids who are in for throwing stones. That is the problem. We need to deal with this fully. We need a complete ceasefire.

The only solution is long-term negotiations and self-determination for the Palestinian people. Israel has never been held to account and so has never needed to deal with the realities on the ground. What did Netanyahu say?

We are at war and we will continue the war until we achieve all our goals ... To destroy Hamas, return all our hostages and ensure that no entity in Gaza can threaten [Israel].

Where will this stop? Nothing in Gaza can be a threat to Israel. Almost 15,000 people have been killed, including 5,500 children. When will enough be enough?

We can look at exactly who the people in the Israeli regime are. Smotrich spoke about the voluntary evacuation of Gazans stating that the "only solution" is for refugees to be accepted by countries around the world that truly wish for their well-being "with generous financial support and assistance from the international community, including the State of Israel". That is only part of it. They are an absolute disgrace. We need to call them out. We need to do what South Africa did. We need to refer Israel as a war criminal to the International Criminal Court. We need to consider the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill and the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill and do what others are doing at the minute, which is looking to recognise the state of Palestine. We need to make sure Israel is called out as the war criminal it is and ensure a real ceasefire is being negotiated.

See this speech in context