LONDON
The Irish taoiseach (prime minister) said on Tuesday that Israel's continuing blockade of humanitarian aid is pushing Gaza closer to a hunger crisis, urging Tel Aviv to lift the blockade immediately.
Addressing a summit, Micheal Martin said there must be an immediate ceasefire, the release of all remaining hostages, and the resumption of unhindered humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza "at an unprecedented scale."
"Israel's continuing humanitarian blockade is pushing Gaza closer to hunger crisis. This must be lifted immediately. It is simply wrong, in principle and in law, to inflict hunger and suffering on a civilian population, whatever the circumstances," said Martin, whose nation’s experience of the Irish Potato Famine still casts a long shadow.
Saying that this behavior "clearly constitutes a war on crime," Martin added that it is also "wholly unacceptable" to contemplate the mass displacement of people in Gaza or to talk of permanent occupation.
"Not only is it an affront to decency and to international law, history tells us it offers absolutely no solution,” he underlined, reaffirming Ireland's position to support the implementation of a two-state solution, calling it "the only way to establish lasting peace and security for both Israel and Palestine and the wider region."
Since March 2, Israel has kept Gaza’s crossings closed to food, medical, and humanitarian aid, deepening the humanitarian crisis in the blockaded territory.
On March 18, Israel broke the ceasefire in Gaza that took effect on Jan. 19, and has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians in the enclave since October 2023.
'World is not doing enough'
In his address, Simon Harris, the Irish tanaiste, or foreign minister, also pointed out the Israeli blockade of aid delivery into Gaza, saying: "You cannot both be deeply appalled and sickened by the continuing blockade of humanitarian aid entering Gaza."
"Children are starving, basic pain killing medication cannot be accessed. Hospitals are being bombed, and the scale of death and destruction in Gaza is almost unimaginable, certainly unconscionable," he said.
Touching on famine, which is "a real risk" for many Gazans, Harris stressed that children in Gaza are even dying as they speak now. "We cannot and we will not stand idly by and let this happen."
"When people look back at this moment in history, they're going to look back and they're going to say the world did not do enough be clear about that. The world is not doing enough," he added.