Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

One of the factors in that appalling incident last week concerning the more than 100 people who were killed was a breakdown in the social order. In my view Israel bears responsibility for that. A number of Gazan policemen were targeted. They were there to at least try and organise the distribution of aid for the UN agencies and then they were targeted by Israeli forces, so they have withdrawn from that. People are desperate. What we are witnessing is understandable desperation on the part of many families. When they see an aid truck coming in, people desperately go to take the aid off the trucks. The UN envoy, Sigrid Kaag, said to the European Foreign Affairs Council that we are on the cusp not just of famine but also of social breakdown. Therefore, the pressure has to be kept on Israel to open more crossings to facilitate more aid going into Gaza. Deputy Howlin is correct that there is a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in front of the world's eyes. What is taking place is appalling.

See this speech in context