Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

What has unfolded before our eyes in Gaza is nothing short of catastrophic. It is a stain on humanity and it demands our unflinching condemnation. Since the war began, over 65,000 people have lost their lives, tens of thousands more have been injured and millions are displaced and starving. Children are buried beneath rubble, hospitals and schools are destroyed and an entire people are being deliberately deprived of food, water and medical aid. This is not just war: this is a systematic assault on human dignity.

Let us be absolutely clear that the barbaric and heinous attacks carried out by Hamas on 7 October 2023 were indefensible. Those acts of terror caused unimaginable suffering and should never be forgotten. Israel's response, though, has been disproportionate to a level that shocks the conscience of the world. It is indefensible, unlawful and inhumane. An independent UN commission has confirmed that what Israel is doing constitutes genocide. Its report found acts of killing, of deliberately inflicting conditions designed to bring about destruction and of causing serious harm, and even of measures to prevent births. These are not words to be used lightly. Genocide is the most serious of crimes under international law and, as Navi Pillay said:

The prevention of genocide is not a matter of discretion of states. It is a legal and moral obligation, and admits no delay.

Ireland cannot stand by in silence. We have recognised Palestine as a sovereign state. We have intervened at the International Court of Justice. We have been one of the strongest voices in Europe calling for the suspension of trade privileges with Israel, for sanctions against those who enable and perpetuate this brutality and for unimpeded humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza. Since January 2023, Ireland has provided more than €95 million in direct support to the Palestinian people. We have stood firmly with UNRWA, even as others tried to turn their backs. We have welcomed Palestinian patients and their families into our hospitals for urgent care but aid and words alone are not enough. The famine now gripping Gaza is entirely man-made. It is the direct result of a blockade that is strangling an entire people. That blockade must end immediately. Food, water and medicine must be allowed into Gaza unhindered.

There is a glimmer of hope. The peace proposal announced in Washington earlier this week, supported by countries across the region, must be seized upon. It offers the prospect of a ceasefire, the release of hostages and the beginning of reconstruction. Importantly, it makes clear there can be no displacement of the people of Gaza, no occupation by Israel and no role for Hamas in the political future. That is a framework we can build on. The only durable path to peace is the two-state solution.

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