Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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214. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he is concerned that Israeli activity in Gaza and the northern part of the West Bank forms a new wave of ethnic cleansing and land-grabbing; if he will condemn this illegal activity; the steps he will take to address it internationally; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20096/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The urgent need to address the conflict in the Middle East remains a priority for Ireland.

Ireland’s engagement on the situation in Israel and Palestine is guided by the need for respect for international law, respect for the equal right to self-determination, peace, security and dignity for Israelis and Palestinians alike, and unwavering support for the two-State solution. Across all our bilateral and multilateral engagement, Ireland has consistently underlined the need for all parties to comply with international law, including international humanitarian law.

The immediate focus of the international community must be on bringing hostilities to an immediate end and for all parties to return to talks aimed at implementing the second phase of the ceasefire and hostage release deal. There must also be an immediate resumption of humanitarian aid into Gaza at scale, and the release of the remaining hostages. I condemn the resumption of Israeli military operations in Gaza, which have brought fresh suffering to the people of Gaza and have breached the ceasefire.

I am also extremely concerned about the situation in the West Bank, where Israel is conducting its single longest military operation in 20 years. At least 40,000 people have been displaced as a result. The latest report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Israeli settlements sets out a stark and evidence-based assessment of the exponential increase in settlement expansion, settler violence and impunity. These actions risk undermining the viability of the two-State solution.

It is vital that the perpetrators of settler violence are held to account. I welcome that, at the meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council in February, the European Union strongly condemned the ongoing extremist settler violence in the West Bank and indicated that it will take forward work on further restrictive measures against extremist settlers and against entities and organisations that support them, in addition to those already listed under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime.

In the current context, the situation in Israel and Palestine remains a standing agenda point on the Foreign Affairs Council. At the Foreign Affairs Council in April, I highlighted the hunger crisis developing in Gaza, and reiterated Ireland’s call for the delivery of much-needed humanitarian aid to Gaza and the further release of hostages. I also called on the EU to adopt further sanctions against violent settlers and those who enable them. I raised these points again during the High-Level Dialogue with the Palestinian Authority, held in the margins of the April Foreign Affairs Council.

Ireland remains convinced that the implementation of the two-State solution is the only way to establish lasting peace and security for both Israel and Palestine, and the wider region.

We are working with international partners to step up our efforts to implement the two-State solution, including through a recent meeting with European and Arab leaders in Antalya, Türkiye on 11 April and through meetings of the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, which will meet again next month in Morocco.

Ireland is using all the tools at our disposal - political, legal, diplomatic and humanitarian - in response to this dreadful conflict.