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

The Deputy knows we are preparing a legal opinion to join the South African case at the International Court of Justice. He knows that, we have said that and we have done much work on that. We were proactive in terms of the ICJ case leading to the advisory opinion, at the UN General Assembly in the first instance; at the court itself, where the AG made a submission; and in asking for the implementation of that opinion in a subsequent UN vote.

I have said very clearly the war in Gaza is a collective punishment of the people living in Gaza and has resulted in the murder of innocent civilians: children, men and women. There is no issue about that from my perspective. Equally, I continue to condemn what Hamas did on 7 October. I note the Deputy has never done that. That is a problem for him and his party. I also condemn what Hezbollah did. Never forget the fact that Hezbollah created much hostility for peacekeepers in Lebanon in the past two to three years which resulted in the killing of an Irish peacekeeper. We need complete de-escalation. The nature of modern warfare is horrific and morally wrong. The bombardment of Lebanon and Gaza and further land grabs in the West Bank are all, in my view, shocking and unacceptable and need to stop.

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