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

I share the Deputy’s distress and horror at the events that we are seeing unfold in Gaza. The ground assault on Rafah should not happen; 1.5 million people are taking refuge there, most of them already displaced from other parts of Gaza and some displaced on more than one occasion. There is a serious risk of a massacre occurring in Rafah if a ground assault were to occur, and that would be a gross violation of international law on top of all the other violations of international law for which Israel is responsible.

We were among the first countries in the world and among the first parliaments in the world to call for a ceasefire. That is correct. There is now a ceasefire proposal on the table, negotiated by Egypt, Qatar and the Americans. Both Hamas and Israel should accept that ceasefire offer, in my view. It will last for three months and will allow the hostages to be released, and they should be released, the killing to stop and aid to get in to Palestinian civilians. Then there is the possibility to build on that three-month ceasefire, make it permanent, enable the removal of the Hamas leadership and fighters from Gaza and, potentially, new elections in Israel.

In terms of the actions that we are taking, we have taken many actions. We have increased funding for the UN and UNRWA in Gaza and the West Bank when other countries have suspended their funding, incorrectly in my view. We have voiced our position and voted in support of the Palestinian people at the UN and the EU. We have called for the EU-Israel association agreement to be suspended, based on our view that Israel may be in violation of the human rights clause within that, and I spoke to the European Commission President on that only yesterday. It does, however, require unanimity at EU level to do so and as the Deputy is aware, there is not unanimity at EU level to do so.

In relation to the International Criminal Court, the Attorney General will be in the Hague on 22 February to make our case before that court in regard to Israel's ongoing occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

We will certainly review what the Deputy mentioned in relation to the ISIF and trade. Our advice from the Attorney General, the previous Attorney General and the Attorney General before that was that trade is very clearly an EU competence and is not in the competence of this Parliament to legislate for. We all need to be realistic. These are the actions we are taking and they are considerable, and we will take more. Recognition, alongside other countries, is one of the things we are working on at the moment and discussing with other countries and EU allies. It is clear to me, though, that Israel is not listening to any country in the world. I do not even think they are listening to the Americans any more. They have become blinded by rage and are going to make their own security situation much worse in the long term by going down the path they are going.

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