Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements Dail Éireann — 2023-12-05 ============================================================ Peadar Tóibín (AON), Meath West The recommencement of the war in Gaza is devastating. The IDF has admitted that yesterday was the most intense day since its ground war started in late October. UNICEF has said there are no safe zones anywhere in Gaza now. The World Health Organization, WHO, has said the situation is getting worse by the hour. Hamas has killed 1,200 people and taken 240 people hostage. That was a horrific war crime. However, 15,800 people have been killed by Israel just in the last two months. Shockingly, 6,000 of these have been children. In schools around our country before Christmas, little children will be singing songs about the first Christmas in Bethlehem, while at the same time children of the same age in Gaza will be slaughtered in their thousands by Israeli armaments. What real actions has this Government and the EU taken to force Israel into peace negotiations that will stick? --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2023-12-05/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:52:29+00:00 Sitting date: 2023-12-05