Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)

As we speak, there are boats on the way to Gaza, boats with aid for a starving population and with support for a population inflicted with genocide. The only arms on these boats are prosthetic arms for children who have lost limbs during this genocide. There are also 22 Irish civilians on these boats. One of them is my friend and comrade Senator Chris Andrews. I have been in regular touch with Chris over recent weeks and I fully support the flotilla. I wish him and his fellow activists safe passage as they deliver food and aid.

We have to ask why they are doing this. It is because the Israel Defense Forces have murdered starving civilians as they queued for food. They have shot them dead where they stood waiting for food. It is like a real-life version of "The Hunger Games" but this is not a fictional film. This is real life and these are real people getting murdered as they queue for the most basic of human needs, food. Israel has weaponised hunger and forced mass starvation. What we are witnessing is genocide in real time, played out for the world to see right across our TV screens and phones.

There has been eight decades of oppression, occupation and apartheid in Palestine. Today there are 6 million Palestinian refugees right across the Middle East, just because Palestinian lands have been taken by Israelis. Today there are over 750,000 illegal Israeli settlers in illegal settlements. These are war crimes under international law. Israel has ignored it and the international community has ignored it. Israel has caused the mass displacement of Palestinians from their homes. Families are running from one slaughter to another. Families do not even have time to bury the remains of their dead children or loved ones before they have to run. Gaza has been razed to the ground. Hospitals, schools, water, power stations and civilian infrastructure have all been destroyed. Entire neighbourhoods have been wiped out. Journalists, medical professionals and aid workers have all been attacked with impunity.

I listened recently to the new peace deal on offer. I will be honest, I will not start saying we need X, Y and Z in this peace deal; what I will say is that we need to stop the slaughter, the genocide and the bombs. Everything else can be sorted with dialogue but right now what the Palestinian people need is the genocide to stop, the bombs to stop, the guns to stop firing and food and aid to be delivered.

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