DUBLIN, March 20, 2025 (WAFA) – Irish President Michael Higgins Thursday condemned renewed Israeli military aggression on the Gaza Strip.
“The Irish Government has strongly condemned the renewed violence which has taken place in recent days,” Higgins said in a press statement.
Higgins added that any approach that leaves condemnation to a few countries such as Ireland will “rightly be seen” by future generations as having been, by their silences, “complicit in collective punishment and of having privileged the threat of war above measures aimed at reducing or ending the loss of human life”.
He stressed the need to recognize and address “The gravity of what is now unfolding in Gaza - the loss of so many lives, including those of women and children.”
“The credibility of all those who present as strong advocates for international law and humanitarian action is called into question and indeed strongly compromised by any silence in the face of what appears to be the real danger of the potential loss of the second phase of a ceasefire in the conflict,” he said.
He called for politicians and people in positions of influence to demand that the ceasefire be respected.
“All those in positions of influence must break their silence and, as the Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres and others have done, appeal for the ceasefire to be respected, and for unimpeded humanitarian assistance to be re-established.”
He said that the Palestinian families who were providing vital services in so many parts of Irish society “are not alone in finding it incomprehensible that a siege that deprives families, including women and children, of water, food and essential medicines is able to operate without the slightest condemnation from some of those who claim to be supporters of humanitarian principles and international law.”
He urged all elected politicians and officials to muster sufficient resolve to condemn the Israeli genocidal aggression on the Strip.
“It cannot be left to institutions such as the United Nations and NGOs to express their outrage at what are clear breaches of humanitarian and human rights law. There is responsibility on all those who hold elected office not only to be aware of, but to comment on the continuing outrage that the escalation in the loss of civilian life and infrastructure represents.
Israel unilaterally ended the Gaza ceasefire agreement and resumed its aggression on the Strip on Tuesday, March 18, carrying out a wave of bloody airstrikes across the Strip and killing hundreds of Palestinians, including over 100 children.
The death toll reached 506 with 909 others wounded, according to medical sources. Emergency teams are attempting to recover victims still trapped beneath the rubble.
The aggression was resumed amidst concerns over the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Strip given the ongoing siege and ban on the entry of medical and humanitarian aid.
Israel has waged a military onslaught on the Strip since October 2023, killing over 49,617 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 112,950 others.
Moreover, at least 10,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
K.F.
