Sinn Féin MEP for Dublin, Lynn Boylan, has called on the international community to use all available levers to ensure the release of Hussam Abu Safia and others abducted by Israeli forces following Israel’s brutal raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital.

Ms Boylan said the attack on the last barely functioning hospital in Northern Gaza was the latest example of Israel’s continuing breaches of international law as it continues to stoop to new lows in attacking medical facilities and targeting, abducting and killing healthcare workers.

In echoing calls by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) in calling for an immediate international intervention, Ms Boylan said:

“Fourteen months into Israel’s brutal assault on the people of Gaza, and the international community continues to fail to uphold international law.

“The deplorable attack on Kamal Adwan Hospital and the abduction of Dr Hussam Abu Safia and other workers and civilians is the latest breach of international law by an Israeli regime that is determined to obliterate Gaza, its people, and the medical workers trying to save them.

“Over 45,000 Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israel in the past 14 months – seventy percent of whom were women and children, while Israel continues to bomb and bulldoze every medical facility treating the maimed and injured.

“The only way to stop the slaughter in Palestine is to end Israeli impunity. The international community cannot continue to watch on; all available levers must be used to ensure the release of Dr Hussam Abu Safia and healthcare workers abducted during Israeli attacks.

“But the reality is that the international community has dragged their heels and failed to impose any meaningful sanctions against Israel. That inaction has allowed Israel to stoop to new lows in its continued slaughter of the Palestinian people.

“For Ireland’s part, the incoming government must stand firm in the face of Israeli belligerence and proceed with the passage of the Occupied Territories Bill, and our party leader Mary Lou McDonald has offered to give up our Dáil time in the new year to ensure that it is passed as quickly as possible.

“Sanctions are essential to push for a ceasefire, to stop the targeted killings of healthcare workers and journalists, to end to the genocide, and to deliver a renewed peace process grounded in international law.”