Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)

We must do more to stop the horror in Gaza. Yesterday, we learned of the horrific situation of Dr. Alaa Najjar, a doctor in Gaza who was working to save lives in a hospital when she learned that nine of her ten children had been killed in an Israeli bombardment, that her husband, another doctor, was critically ill, and that only one child was left alive. Thousands of children have been killed or left orphaned by the devastating genocide by Israel. Tomorrow, we will use Labour's Private Members' time to call on the Government to move a motion at the UN General Assembly seeking a sustainable peace and an international peacekeeping force in Gaza. I look forward to that debate but I ask the Taoiseach to do more. Today, the Tánaiste has sought approval for a new occupied territories Bill. This cannot represent a watering down of Frances Black's original Bill, which we in Labour co-sponsored. The Bill needs to include trade in services. We need to do everything in our power to stop the horrific war crimes Israel is carrying out on the people of Gaza.

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