Davidson MaramaHon MARAMA DAVIDSON (Co-Leader—Green): Haere ki ngā mate haere haere haere atu rā. Ngā mokopuna ngā tamariki ngā kaumātua ngā tāne ngā wāhine i patua i patua i mate. Haere haere okioki mai. Hoki mai ki a mātou ki a tātou ngā kanohi ora kia tū tika. Kia tū tika ki te whakamana i te haerenga mō ngā mokopuna o Palestine me ngā mokopuna o Israel ki te noho pai. [To the deceased pass on rest in peace. The grandchildren the children the elders the men the women who were killed who were killed. Go on rest in peace. Returning now to us to all of us the living to stand true. To stand true to honour the journey for the grandchildren of Palestine and the grandchildren of Israel to live well.]Thank you Mr Speaker. I stand to take a call and firstly seek leave to move two amendments to the motion: firstly to add—SPEAKER: Well—Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON: I seek leave—SPEAKER: No you don't need to seek leave; it's a debate.Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON: OK. I move That the words and the death of over 16000 people in Gaza including over 7000 children together with 1200 killed in Israel on 7 October" be added to the end of the first point of the motion expressing grave concern and the words "recognise Israel's right to defend itself acting in accordance with international law and that all civilians be protected from armed conflict;" be replaced with "recognise that targeting civilians schools and hospitals constitutes a war crime and can never be considered self-defence.""To accept the sacrifice of the children in Gaza is humanity giving up. This is our last chance before we delve into seeking to explain yet another utterly avoidable tragedy." This quote is from the Geneva Palais briefing note. It is a summary said by UNICEF spokesperson James Elder who wants to be quoted to understand the gravity and the depth and the horror of what is happening. How else are all of the innocent people on the ground in Gaza meant to understand this as anything other than genocide? How else are the children growing up with generational trauma of their cities and their families being slaughtered and murdered supposed to receive this as anything else but the darkest oppression? How else are innocents in Gaza supposed to be receiving the deprivation of water health supplies basic shelter basic humanities than anything other than not just the right to defend but a right to obliterate? How else are they supposed to receive that? They're not even interested in international law. Even though we should stick to it they don't know what international law is at this very moment. All they know is the absolute murder and genocide and slaughter that is happening to them now. That's all they know and that is not just something that started after 7 October. This is decades—decades—of oppression by the Israeli Government over the occupied territories of Palestine. As tangata whenua—SPEAKER: Look sorry to interrupt the member. There is a motion on the floor and the debate requires that you speak to the motion. You can speak to your amendments but you're going well beyond the intention of those amendments at the moment.Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON: I appreciate that; thank you Mr Speaker. This self-defence narrative then: we utterly condemn all violence—I am a former prevention of violence Minister—of course and have since the start condemned all violence including the attacks by Hamas on 7 October. But it is intolerable and grotesque to suggest the actions of the Israeli Government are self-defence. This is retaliation against civilians and the international community has a duty to not let it continue.Speaking to the motion then the size of Gaza—is it the size of Auckland Chlöe?Chlöe Swarbrick: A third the size.Hon MARAMA DAVIDSON: A third? It is a third the size of Auckland and the trapped civilian population—Gaza is smaller than Wellington City—is 2 million people. There are 2 million people in that space there including 1 million children and they literally have nowhere to go.Speaking to the motion the responsibility of New Zealand and the international community is to uphold international law including the responsibility to prevent genocide from occurring under the Genocide Convention.Speaking to the motion there is the need for urgent and enduring ceasefire of all military and paramilitary activities in Gaza Israel and the West Bank and speaking to the motion I do appreciate finally a call for an everlasting ceasefire. I wonder how many more thousands of innocent people we could have saved if the world had applied that pressure and made that call many many many weeks ago straight after the resumption after the pause ceasefire—I don't know; to pause for what? After the recent pause ceasefire resumed the killing of children began again.I'm pleased to see that the Deputy Prime Minister—the Minister of Foreign Affairs—has put up a ceasefire in this motion. I welcome it. I wish we as a country had put this pressure out to the world given the many thousands of dead innocent civilians many many weeks ago.The support for internationally backed negotiations to secure lasting peace and uphold all of the human rights is something that we have an absolute duty moral legal and political to do. We must affirm again in speaking to the motion that everyone living in Gaza Israel and the West Bank—all of them—have a right to live in peace and security and that the Palestinian people have a right to self-determination which has been undermined by decades of occupation. I hope we all do the right thing. Thank you Mr Speaker."