Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I call for the immediate release of Emily Hand and all of the hostages held by Hamas. Once again I utterly condemn the attack by Hamas on 7 October. Horrendous as those actions were, they in no way justify what has been happening in Palestine over the past month. A total of 11,000 Palestinian citizens have been slaughtered, including more than 4,000 children. I want to quote from Gideon Levy, an Israeli journalist and author who writes a regular column for Ha'aretz.

A Hamas terrorist was taken out of the debris, carried in his father’s arms. His face is covered with dust, his body jerking like a sack, his stare blank. It’s not clear if he’s alive or dead. He is a toddler of three or four, and his desperate father rushed him to the Gaza Strip's Indonesian Hospital, which was already bursting with wounded and dead people.

Another terrorist was extracted from the wreckage. This time she's clearly alive, her fair, curly hair is white with dust; she's five or six, being carried by her father. She looks right and left, as though asking where help will come from.

A man in a tattered vest scribbles here and there, a white sheet folded like a shroud in his hands, covering an infant’s body, and he’s waving it in despair. It’s the body of his son, a newborn baby. This infant hadn’t yet had a chance to join Hamas’ military headquarters in the Jabalia refugee camp. He had only lived a few days — a butterfly’s eternity — and was killed.

It is quite clear that what we are witnessing is genocide. If we look at the International Criminal Court's definition of genocide this is what we are witnessing. What is really shocking to me is that there are no consequences for Israel. I have to ask in all sincerity how can this be. We are witnessing it on our screens day after day and night after night and there are no consequences. I fully support the Government's call for a ceasefire 100% but we have to do more. We can do more. We can immediately call for an investigation by the International Criminal Court. This is the very least we should do. We should immediately endorse Senator Black's occupied territories Bill. We should immediately endorse Sinn Féin's divestment Bill, which has been stalled in the Dáil. We should immediately recognise Palestine in line with the vote taken in the previous Parliament. How can we stand by and watch what is happening day after day and decide it is just enough to call for a ceasefire? It is clearly not enough. History will judge us and it will judge us very badly. We need a coalition of the willing and the Irish Government should lead that coalition of the willing and take action.