Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is just over a 100 days into the slaughter of the Palestinian people by Israel with the most sophisticated weapons in the world on an area half the size of County Louth, bombed relentlessly from the land, sea and air, and this is called a war. Some 25,000 people are confirmed dead, of whom almost 11,000 are children, 7,500 are women and almost 10,000 are missing, presumed dead under the rubble. Over 60,000 are injured. More than 1.9 million people have been forcibly displaced multiple times. Hospitals and schools have been flattened and 70% of housing accommodation has been destroyed. There is a lack of food, water and medicine. Israel is destroying Gaza's food system intentionally and imposing a high rate of disease, prolonged malnutrition, dehydration and starvation by destroying civilian infrastructure. The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is worsening and the strip is on the verge of famine.

The Government must do more. The people have been way ahead of the Government when it comes to what is going on in Gaza, with hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets in support of the Palestinian people. The Government’s role should be very clear as obligations under the Genocide Convention must be taken with the utmost seriousness. We all must acknowledge that what is happening before out eyes is genocide, an attempt by Israel to destroy the Palestinian people as a whole with no remorse for all the men, women and children it is slaughtering.

South Africa has taken a stand, a commendable and courageous stand, against this injustice. It is imperative we support its efforts to halt what is a genocide in Gaza. We must lend our voice, our power and our resolve to those who seek peace and justice. We must call on Israel to answer to the International Court of Justice for its actions. To the leaders in the West I say the attack on some commercial ships in the Red Sea moved the weapons and aircraft of the western world, while Israel’s annihilation of 25,500 Palestinians did not even move your consciences. Has the western world any right to talk about human rights anywhere in the world while at the same time allowing Israel to commit war crimes and genocide in Gaza? Israel is not being asked to give anything to the Palestinians, it is only being asked to return their stolen land and restore their trampled self-respect, along with their fundamental human rights and humanity. What is happening in Gaza is not war but colonialism, not eviction but ethnic cleansing and not conflict but 75 years of occupation. We stand with the Palestinian people.

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