Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will speak about health infrastructure in Gaza but I also want to make a point on the seemingly increasing trend of elected representatives making veiled threats to public bodies with regard to their funding. It is not a good look for any democratically elected representative. I want to focus on the health infrastructure in Gaza. Last night, we heard how Gaza's only Covid-19 laboratory was destroyed by an Israeli air strike. There is now no clinic to carry out testing for the virus. Gaza was already facing a surge in the virus and had one of the highest positivity rates at 28%. Hospitals were already overwhelmed. Now, after a week of military strikes, the healthcare infrastructure is being inundated with women and children, innocent victims of Israeli state terror. Even road access to medical centres has been targeted. A day before the Covid laboratory strike, two medical workers, a neurologist and the head of internal medicine at Gaza's largest hospital, were also killed. All of this is happening in the context of a healthcare system that has been operating under a blockade for 15 years.

The destruction of hospitals and the targeting of medical personnel is a heinous war crime by the occupiers. The Israeli state follows no international rulebook. With the US vetoing UN action and the EU unwilling to suspend Israel's membership of the Euro-Mediterranean trade agreement, despite flagrant violations of the human rights protocols that underpin the agreement, it now falls to Ireland to show leadership. Ireland must progress the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill. It has the approval of both Houses. It has the approval of the Palestinian leaders, Amnesty International and the International Federation for Human Rights. The Bill would make the Israeli state feel the economic cost for its actions. It would pave the way for other countries to follow suit. The Government must stop hiding behind the Attorney General's advice. One of Europe's top legal experts on EU law has challenged the Attorney General's position. It is time for Ireland to lead on the issue of Palestine. We can no longer turn a blind eye to women and children being murdered indiscriminately and to health infrastructure being targeted. I was there in 2014, and I saw with my own eyes medical supplies being blocked from entering Gaza. Child trauma kits designed to deal with children suffering from psychological stress were being blocked by the Israel Defense Forces from going into Gaza. It is time for Ireland to lead on this issue and pass the occupied territories Bill.