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

Again, I did not do that in any shape or form. In any interactions I had, I articulated that the programme for Government was progressing the occupied territories Bill. I made that very clear and I listed out all the actions we had taken, which are well known to the House.

Fundamentally, however, it seems to me that Prime Minister Netanyahu, irrespective of what gets said here or what gets said in Europe, is hell-bent on his own political survival at an horrendous cost to innocent children and civilians within Gaza. We have consistently called for a ceasefire from the get-go, being one of the first European Union countries to do so. Our view is that that ceasefire needed to be consolidated - on both sides, by the way. I think Hamas's behaviour during the first phase was reprehensible also and how it has treated hostages has been reprehensible. All hostages should be released now unconditionally, in my view. Equally, however, the war should stop. It is morally bankrupt to bomb children to their death in the manner that has happened in the past two days.

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