Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Once again, for the avoidance of doubt - not in this House but perhaps in other parts of the world - I want to condemn unreservedly the terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel where 2,000 people were killed, were tortured. We know now that many women were raped and others were kidnapped and taken hostage, and remain as hostages in Gaza today. While Israel has a right to defend itself, what it has done goes well beyond that in my view and that of the Government. Israel is allowing a situation to develop whereby 100 children a day are being killed in Gaza. That is unbearable and unacceptable, and we deplore and condemn it.

As a Government, we seek a new ceasefire so that the killing ends, so that we can get aid and relief into the Gaza Strip to relieve the suffering of the people there, and so that a new government, or at least a new administration, can be put in place in Gaza that does not involve Hamas and can be one that can become the basis for a lasting peace. That is what we are seeking at EU level, at UN level and in our engagements with other countries in the Middle East, making it very clear there can be no expulsion of populations, either from the West Bank or Gaza, that there can be no reoccupation, that there can be no further loss of territory and that there can be no role for Hamas in the future governance of Gaza. That is the position we are advocating. We will do it at EU level, at UN level and in our contacts with other countries in the region.

Specifically, the Tánaiste begins a three-day visit today to the Middle East. He will travel to Saudi Arabia today, then onward to COP in Dubai, and he will use these visits as an important opportunity to engage with key actors in respect of the devastating war between Israel and Hamas, in which so many innocent lives have been lost. I will use my role as Taoiseach at the European Council next week to press for the European Union to adopt wording calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and calling for the European Union, in particular, to take a much more active role in pushing for a two-state solution and Palestinian statehood, because the European Union has been far too passive for far too long when it comes to this conflict.

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