October 11 will mark the International Day of the Girl. So many children, girls and boys, in the Middle East do not have a childhood. They live every day in fear amid the ongoing conflict. Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of the heinous atrocities on October 7 2023, when 1,200 people were violently murdered in utterly barbaric circumstances and 251 were taken hostage. Many of us across the House will stand in solidarity with those families who seek the immediate release of their loved ones. However, the scorched-earth strategy that has been unleashed by Israel since then is absolutely unforgivable, forcing Palestinians to run from death towards death in what is now a hopeless, post-apocalyptic landscape where the entire population has been displaced. Over 40,000 people are dead, which includes the slaughter of 16,000 innocent young children. It is a collective punishment on a population that has been demonised as "human animals".

Not satisfied with the misery that it has wreaked on the people of Gaza, Israel has opened up yet another war front. It has invaded the sovereign nation of Lebanon and now threatens an all-out war in the Middle East of biblical proportions. With over 1,000 rocket attacks a day, the bombing of densely populated civilian areas means that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have already claimed the lives of 2,000 people in the past week. The terror inflicted on Lebanon through lethal bunker bombs has traumatised a population; ended children's education; destroyed roads, thereby preventing evacuation to Syria; killed emergency service workers; and displaced over one million innocent people, with ordinary families sleeping on the streets in fear for their lives. Now, the IDF is threatening the safety of our Irish soldiers and other UN peacekeepers. That is categorically unacceptable. Enough truly is enough.

Under international law, punitive action against civilians is forbidden. I am appealing to the humanity of all Members across the House to condemn the actions of Israel, stand with the people of Gaza and stand with the ordinary people of Lebanon. We must push for a diplomatic solution, call for an immediate ceasefire and join President Macron's call to stop selling weapons to Israel. That must be honoured. If not, I fear that the continued actions of Israel threaten an all-out major war in the Middle East. In addition, the failure of Western politicians to adequately condemn and call out that behaviour risks the complete collapse of humanitarian norms and the sanctity of international law.

I have to reiterate the anger and resentment that I feel towards the US and UK politicians who have stayed silent and abstained on the matter out of narcissistic aims and self-interest. Although we are a devolved institution, I reiterate to all Members that we have a moral and ethical duty to call out those atrocities and put innocent children at the forefront of our minds when we are decision-making.