John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As we sit here this evening, more than 26,750 Palestinians have already been killed in Gaza. A further 65,636 have been wounded since 7 October. Some 2 million Palestinians are displaced, with thousands more missing, many buried under rubble. On average, Israel is killing 250 Palestinians per day in Gaza. This represents a higher daily rate than any other 21st century armed conflict. Israeli attacks have killed one out of every 100 Palestinians in Gaza and injured at least two Palestinians in every 100, often with life-altering wounds, while it continues to deny access to medical or rescue teams in areas where it is operating in Gaza. These numbers will continue to grow unless pressure is brought to bear on Israel in the form of international censure.

Gaza is being dismantled house by house, street by street, school by school, and hospital by hospital. The failure to impose sanctions on Israel must be measured against the haste with which so many western countries acted to suspend funding to UNRWA, which has had 152 personnel killed since the start of the attack on Gaza. That is a decision that will do more than anything else to compound human suffering and undermine regional stabilisation goals on the ground. These actions are viewed as a collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza, many of whom are dependent on the 154 aid centres set up by UNRWA for refuge. Many of the countries that have cut funding to UNRWA continue funding the Israeli military regime as it continues its genocide. They are hypocrites.

The Government has said it will engage with South Africa in the coming months on whether it will intervene in the genocide case against Israel. The Palestinian people do not have four or six months.

They have not got a week. They are dying in their thousands. The Government is morally bound to support Sinn Féin's motion this evening, which will mandate Ireland to do the right thing and support the South African case against Israel under the genocide convention. We cannot continue to sit on the fence concerning acts of international crime and genocide. We heard the Tánaiste's words of concern and condemnation in the past. It is time to get off the fence now and to take definitive action and stand up for the Palestinian people once and for all at a time that matters.

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