A large pro-Palestine demonstration took place in Dublin city on Saturday.
The National Demonstration for Palestine was organised by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) and takes place every month.
Organisers estimated that tens of thousands of people took part in the march.
Speakers at the demonstration demanded an immediate ceasefire and for humanitarian aid to be allowed to enter Gaza.
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They also called on the Government to enact the Occupied Territories Bill – which would ban trade with the occupied Palestinian territories, but has been stalled for some time – and to stop weapons bound for Israel from going through Irish airspace.
Saturday’s demonstration marked the 77th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, which means catastrophe in Arabic and refers to the displacement of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
IPSC chairwoman Zoë Lawlor said the Nakba “didn’t end”.
[ Israel-Palestinian dispute hinges on statehood, land, Jerusalem, refugeesOpens in new window ]
“It’s not a historical moment, it’s something that’s happening every second. The majority of the population in Gaza are already refugees, and now everyone there has been forcibly displaced from their homes, many of them multiple times.
“So it’s really important that we commemorate that and uphold the Palestinian refugees’ right of return, which is their legal, guaranteed and inalienable right.”
Ms Lawlor said the Government needs to do more to help bring about a ceasefire in Gaza, instead of just “rhetoric”.
“We’re almost two years now into live-streamed genocide, which is just getting worse every day.”
Noting that the National Famine Commemoration took place on Saturday, Ms Lawlor said Irish people have “a generational obligation to Palestinians because our ancestors knew what colonial forced starvation was, and the trauma that caused”.
Addressing the National Famine Commemoration in Kilmallock, Co Limerick, president Michael D Higgins said that people in Gaza are being subjected to “forced starvation”.
[ President Higgins says people in Gaza are being subjected to ‘forced starvation’Opens in new window ]
In his keynote speech, Mr Higgins said the UN Security Council had failed “again and again” to respond to current conditions in Gaza and called on the UN General Assembly to step in.
“The General Assembly must speak and act if, in fact, the Security Council refuses to deal with the terrible famines that are now facing us in those parts of the world,” he said.
More than 300 Gazans have been killed in Israeli strikes since Thursday, according to local health authorities, one of the deadliest phases of bombardment since a truce collapsed in March.
Israel’s declared goal in Gaza is the elimination of the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas which attacked Israeli communities on October 7th, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and seizing some 250 hostages, according to Israel.
Its military campaign has devastated the tiny, crowded enclave, pushing nearly all inhabitants from their homes and killing more than 53,000 people, according to Gaza health authorities. – Additional reporting: Reuters
