Hipkins ChrisURGENT DEBATESGaza Crisis—Government ResponseRt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the Opposition): I move That the House take note of a matter of urgent public importance.The humanitarian situation in Gaza is now well past crisis point. Three-quarters of Gaza's 2.2 million people are internally displaced; more than a million people are crammed into Rafah a tiny sliver of land which now has a population five times what it was before the war. I think New Zealanders watching images of the tragedy unfolding in Gaza on a night-by-night basis could be forgiven for thinking that this is happening somewhere else in the world and that this is someone else's problem—it isn't.To put into context what's happening the 365 square kilometre area that makes up Gaza is roughly half the size of Lake Taupō and it currently contains 2.2 million people three-quarters of whom have been displaced by this conflict. There is a health system in Gaza that is clearly in crisis: 155000 pregnant and breastfeeding women are suffering from malnutrition; over 5000 women will give birth in the next month—they have no hospitals and no health facilities in which to deliver their babies safely. People are starving; people are dying. UNICEF has now said that Gaza is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. They estimate there is one toilet per 700 children and their families; diarrhoea respiratory illness and malnutrition are now widely spread.There is no military solution to this tragedy and to this problem. As my colleague Phil Twyford pointed out in an earlier debate in this House four generations of Palestinians are now living in refugee camps. We should absolutely acknowledge the atrocity that was the Hamas attack on Israel. We should also acknowledge Israel's right to defend itself as I did as our Prime Minister when that happened. But there are limits to that right to self-defence. As I pointed out we are very concerned that the actions of the Israeli Defence Force are disproportionate and indiscriminate. The right to self-defence is not an unlimited one. All parties have an obligation to take all possible steps to protect civilians and it is clear that that has not been happening.Last year we urged Hamas to release hostages immediately and unconditionally and to work towards peace and we restate that now. We also called on all parties to strive to restore calm and restraint and to refrain from provocative actions incitement and inflammatory rhetoric. We are still concerned that basic humanitarian supplies are not reaching those who so desperately need them. New Zealand's position of encouraging all parties to work towards a two-State solution within secure and recognised borders where all citizens enjoy equal rights and freedoms has been a longstanding one and yet it feels such a long long way away.Labour called for a ceasefire back in November. It was the right thing to do then and it is absolutely the right thing for us to be doing now. Thousands of Palestinians the majority of them women and children have been killed. The lives of the victims have been changed. Horrific scenes of lives destroyed—children whose parents siblings and grandparents have been killed—are on our TV screens on a nightly basis. There are no places for people to go for safety. I don't think we should ever in this House underestimate what it must feel like to know that your home and your community are under attack and there is literally nowhere you can go to get away from that. That is something that I hope no member of this House has ever experienced and I hope no New Zealander will ever experience it. We should not put up with it being the situation for those in Gaza. The carnage in Gaza must end. We must support an immediate and a sustainable ceasefire and the immediate release of hostages. New Zealand must show leadership on this issue.Overnight the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan. Significantly for the first time the United States has not exercised its veto. This House needs to understand the New Zealand Government's position and it must go further than it has to date. Now the United Nations has called for an immediate ceasefire there is simply no excuse for New Zealand's position to remain that we call for steps towards a ceasefire. We should have been calling for an immediate ceasefire months ago and our Government must do so now and it must do so immediately.We also need to understand the New Zealand Government's position on emergency visas for Palestinians with relatives living in New Zealand. There should be no equivocation; the Government must do the right thing.I want to quote from a Minister in a previous National Government—New Zealand of course has a track record of principled diplomacy in this particular area. In 2016 under the then Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully New Zealand sponsored a United Nations Security Council resolution reaffirming that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967 constitute a flagrant violation of international law and—I quote—a major obstacle" to the vision of two States living side by side in peace and security within internationally recognised borders. Murray McCully said we can use our voice and it does make a difference. Now is absolutely the time for us to be using our voice.We should be calling for an immediate sustainable and durable ceasefire. Waiting until the conditions for a ceasefire exist before calling for one simply lacks moral courage and it is not consistent with the long-held principled position that New Zealand has taken. We should not wait for more people to be displaced. We should not wait for more innocent civilians to be killed. We should not tolerate the fact that we have internationally respected and recognised agencies declaring Gaza to be the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. We should not tolerate a system where women are having to give birth with no hospitals and no health facilities. We should not tolerate a situation where people are suffering from malnutrition from diarrhoea from respiratory illnesses and are unable to get the basic help that they deserve. This is more than a humanitarian crisis. The whole world can see what is unfolding in Gaza and the very least that we can do as a country is to take a principled stance in opposition to it.It is now well and truly time for the New Zealand Government to take a much stronger position and a much more principled stance on the crisis that has been unfolding in Gaza. This debate is their opportunity to do that. The country is waiting for them to do that and following the United Nations Security Council resolution it is clear that the rest of the world are waiting for New Zealand to do that as well. It should have been done months ago but the time is now. It is now time for the Government to add its voice to the growing international call for an immediate ceasefire."