Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On 4 July it is important for this House to recall that the Biden Administration has sent huge numbers of munitions to Israel, including more than 10,000 highly destructive 2,000 lb bombs and thousands of Hellfire missiles, since the start of the genocide in Gaza. Between the commencement of the genocide last October and recent weeks, the United States transferred at least 14,000 MK-84 2,000 lb bombs, 6,500 500 lb bombs, 3,000 Hellfire precision-guided air-to-ground missiles, 1,000 bunker buster bombs, 2,600 air-dropped small diameter bombs and a host of other munitions. These US bombs and munitions are being used to blow up men, women and children in hospitals, schools, refugee camps, family homes, apartments, nurseries, playgrounds and places of worship. They have resulted in the deaths of at least 38,000 Palestinians, including 15,000 children and 10,000 women – all innocent, all slaughtered with US munitions and bombs.

I want to give a small insight into what it is like to be on the receiving end of these bombs. This is a quote from Hanan Saleh, who lost five of her seven children in the bombing of her apartment building last November:

I was on the balcony with my two grandchildren, Julia and Majd. The rest of the family were inside, getting ready for lunch. Suddenly, I felt my body flying through the air, and then I fell on the floor. Julia and Majd crashed to the floor, too, and there was dust and debris everywhere. There was a lot of smoke too, and I could smell fire. My shoulder felt dislocated, and I couldn’t move or get up on my feet. Then I started feeling like the building was collapsing underneath me, until the third floor became the first floor.

The following is from Shadi Fatayer:

[W]e heard a loud explosion and the roof of the building and its pillars collapsed on us. Everything was dark and full of dust. Hanan was still holding my hand when a block of concrete fell on her, and I couldn’t move. I screamed out to the children and only Ibrahim answered. He said, “Dad, I’m going to die.” [...] I shouted for help, hoping someone would hear me and save my wife and children. I called out to Hanan, but she didn’t respond.

Those are two small insights into the horrors that continue to be inflicted on the people of Palestine.

I know we are due to finish up but I ask for an urgent debate because, unfortunately, the genocide will continue through the summer months. I call on the Leader, and I do not think it should cause her any difficulty, to call on the US to stop supplying arms and bombs to the apartheid Israeli state. Surely we can all agree on that, given the horrors we know are happening every day.