Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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43. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade further to Parliamentary Question No. 199 of 8 July 2025, to state, as was asked in the original question, the total number of the 57,012 Palestinians killed who he accepts to have been civilians; the number the Department accepts to have been militants and members of Hamas or other armed groups; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40966/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The figures referred to in Parliamentary Question No. 199 of 8 July 2025 were from a United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) update published on 2 July 2025. The figures were provided to OCHA by the Ministry of Health in Gaza. Of the 57,012 fatalities, 24,818 were men, 9,126 were women, 17,121 were children, and 4,137 were elderly. The figures are not disaggregated by occupation or affiliation to militant groups, including Hamas.

I am aware of a number of reports and studies that claim the overall death toll is higher than the figure cited by OCHA, based on the Palestinian Ministry of Health figures. I am also aware of claims about the number of militants killed. However, in neither case can those figures be verified.

I should emphasise that Ireland’s primary concern is about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which is worsening daily. The entire population is now facing high levels of food insecurity. More than 20% face starvation after 22 months of fighting, 80 days of total blockade of vital, life-saving, humanitarian aid and a wholly inadequate volume of aid delivery since 22 May.

Ireland has consistently called on Israel to allow unimpeded access of humanitarian aid into Gaza, at scale and in full accordance with international law and humanitarian principles.

I continue to urge all parties to do everything possible to support efforts underway to reach agreement on a new ceasefire and hostage release deal. I commend the role of the mediators, Egypt, Qatar and the United States, in their efforts to secure progress.