Lorraine Clifford-Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I start by welcoming ambassador H.E. Dana Erlich and Jeremy Wilmshurst from the British Embassy who are here in our Gallery to witness this very important debate and the range of views across the House. Like everyone, I am devastated at the scale of human suffering since 7 October. We have all been looking at appalling images on our television screens, on our phones and in our newspapers. The brutal act of terrorism perpetrated by Hamas on innocent Israelis shocked the world and, as the Tánaiste outlined, it is the worst escalation of conflict in recent years in this region of the world. This was the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and the methods employed by Hamas are the same as the methods of the Nazis.We cannot underestimate the impact of this brutal and devastating day on the psyches of every Israeli and Jewish person around the world. I am thinking, in particular, of the Jewish community in Ireland. We cannot move past that day too quickly. We need to absorb the full scale of the horror. We must condemn, without any conditions, Hamas and its slaughter of innocent people. It was absolutely devastating and I extend my sympathies to every Israeli and Palestinian person living in Ireland. As has been outlined, many of them have lost family members and friends in the appalling conflict we have seen. It was not legitimate resistance, as I have said. Hamas is an Islamic terrorist organisation. We think particularly of the two Irish girls, Kim Damti and Emily Hand, who were slaughtered on that particular day.

I am disturbed and kept awake at night by the fate of the hostages. We need to be very mindful of them. We know of 199 hostages. I am holding a picture of Kfir, who is a nine-month-old Israeli boy. He is a hostage. I have a picture of an entire family who have been taken hostage. They are Tal, Adi, Naveh and Yahel. The two kids are aged eight and three. They are hostages and we do not know where they are. I also have a picture of a mum and her two daughters, Doron, Aviv and Raz, a four-year-old, a two-year-old and their 34-year-old mum, who are hostages. Mia, a young girl, is also a hostage. We must think about them and keep them in all our thoughts. Thomas Hand outlined that when he was informed his daughter, his little eight-year-old girl, had died, he was happy she was not a hostage. He knows what happens to Israeli hostages in Gaza. I am sure the vast majority of Palestinian people are appalled and horrified by the techniques employed by Hamas, but those hostages need to be returned immediately, without condition and without any harm. I am sorry I do not have more time. I wanted to talk about those hostages. Before we can move the situation on, they need to come home.