Frances Black (Independent)

I wish to read out a press statement that was sent to me by Dr. Mustafa Barghouti MP and leader of the Palestinian National Initiative, today, on the second anniversary of the genocidal war in Gaza.

Today marks two years since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza, during which Israel committed three war crimes in parallel: a genocide, the collective punishment of the civilian population including starvation, and ethnic cleansing. According to health and medical sources, the Israeli army committed the following crimes during the horrific war and this has to be put on the record. A total of 67,139 Palestinians were killed. Their names and IDs are recorded. Five out of six of them were civilians. An estimated 9,500 Palestinians are still missing under the rubble. More than 20,000 civilians killed were children. A total of 2,700 families were erased from the civil record, all killed by the Israeli army. A total of 5,943 families were killed, leaving only one person alive from each family, in most cases a child. More than 4,000 Palestinians had an amputation of one or more of their limbs. A total of 1,670 medical doctors and other medical professionals were killed and hundreds were injured. A total of 254 journalists were killed, along with 140 civil defence workers killed while trying to save the injured. More than 166,000 Palestinians were injured in Gaza. A total of 460 civilians died of starvation, including more than 146 children. A total of 90,000 children are suffering from severe malnutrition. During the war on Gaza, the Israeli army threw more than 160,000 tonnes of explosives, which exceeded eight times the explosive power of each of the nuclear bombs thrown on Japan during the Second World War. That equals 76 kg of explosives for each man, woman and child in Gaza. All universities in Gaza were totally destroyed.

I come to the West Bank now. More than 1,000 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank, including 33 killed by Israeli terrorist settlers. Some 18,000 Palestinians were arrested in the West Bank in the past two years. Approximately 50,000 civilians in the West Bank were ethnically cleansed from three refugee camps in Jenin and Tulkarm. Sixty Palestinian communities in the West Bank were evicted from their land by terrorist settlers and the Israeli army. Israel built 22 more illegal settlements in the West Bank and more than 111 new settlement outposts, confiscating 50,000 dunams. The Israeli army set up 1,000 military checkpoints in the West Bank and approximately 200 military gates surrounding villages to control who can enter and exit, forcing Palestinian communities to live in gated ghettos and semi-prisons. I could go on.

The world is watching and still there is no action. Israel is breaking international law in an unbelievably horrific way and nobody is doing anything. I cannot get my head around it. I do not know what is going on. Millions of people are out marching in the streets, including in this country. Thousands were at the March last Saturday, I was there myself, and there is still no action. We need action and we need it sooner rather than later. I hope to meet with the Tánaiste next week to talk about getting the occupied territories Bill passed in full, with both goods and services.