Ireland says Israel’s Gaza aid blockade ‘unconscionable’
Ireland has slammed as “unconscionable” Israel’s ban on humanitarian aid into Gaza, as Palestinian children there are “starving”, calling on the occupying regime to allow goods and supplies into the besieged territory.
In a statement on Friday, Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland (Tanaiste), Simon Harris, said, “Children are starving. Hospitals are running out of basic painkillers,” as no humanitarian or commercial supplies have entered Gaza in more than eight weeks as a result of the Israeli blockade.
Noting that the World Food Programme has said that its food stocks are now depleted, the Tanaiste stressed, “life-saving aid is available and urgently needed, but trucks cannot cross into Gaza.”
“It is unconscionable that the current suffering is continuing. This is the longest ban on aid entering Gaza since the start of the war,” Harris said.
He also decried the situation as “unacceptable”, urging Israel to “immediately lift the blockade and allow for unimpeded access of humanitarian aid.”
The statement called for the resumption of ceasefire talks, emphasizing that “the international community must act now to avert further disaster.”
Israel launched the war of genocide in Gaza and imposed a complete siege on the strip on October 7, 2023, after Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Flood in retaliation for Israel’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
Last January, the Israeli regime was forced to agree to a ceasefire deal with Hamas, given the regime’s failure to achieve any of its objectives, including the “elimination” of the Palestinian resistance movement or the release of captives.
However, Israel cut off food and medical supplies and other aid to the 2.3 million residents of the Gaza Strip on March 2, just two weeks before breaking the two-month ceasefire and prisoner-captive exchange agreement.
In total, 52,418 Palestinians have been killed and 118,091 others injured since October 7, 2023, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Earlier on Friday, Israel carried out a drone attack on a ship of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition bound for Gaza carrying humanitarian aid and activists off the coast of Malta in international waters.
