The horror that has occurred in Israel and Gaza since the weekend dominates the Irish Times front page today.
“Israel tightens siege around Gaza strip” is the headline of the print edition.
It details how Israel has formed an emergency war cabinet and power, fuel and water supplies have been cut off to the enclave that is home to almost 2 million people in advance of an expected ground offensive.
The actions against Gaza come in the wake of Saturday’s deadly assault on Israel by Hamas.
One person killed in that attack is Kim Damti, a 22-year-old Irish-Israeli woman who had been attending a music festival near the border with Gaza when Hamas militants struck.
Jack Power reports how her sister Laura described Kim as “our angel, our flower” as she posted online about her murder.
President Michael D Higgins last night said “It is with the greatest sadness that I have heard of the death of the young Irish-Israeli citizen Kim Damti.
“The circumstances in which her life was taken, having travelled as she did to attend a music festival, are truly appalling.
“It is not only those of us who are parents, but all of those who feel that young people should be free to attend events with their peers in conditions of safety, who will find such circumstances where a young life is taken so appalling.
“Kim’s death once again reminds us what an outrageous breach of fundamental international law in conditions of conflict it is to target civilians in this way.”
He extended his “deepest condolences to Kim’s family, friends and all those with whom she shared her life” adding: “Suaimhneas síoraí dá hanam”.
In our lead, Sarah Burns and Harry McGee outline how the UN estimates that nearly 300,000 Palestinians have been displaced within the 40km Gaza strip, with many rushing to UN-run schools and refugee camps to seek shelter from the Israeli bombardment.
Israel said it had hit more than 2,600 “Hamas targets” in the blockaded territory, while more than 5,000 rockets had been fired from Gaza.
Combined fatalities reported by Israelis and Palestinians now surpass 2,000, not including 1,500 Hamas fighters whose bodies Israel says it has retrieved.
In the Dáil, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said targeting civilian infrastructure in Gaza was unacceptable, just as it was unacceptable for Russia to target civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
Solidarity with Israel from other parts of the world would “evaporate very quickly” if its response in Gaza and elsewhere was disproportionate and there must be “restraint”, he said.
About 700 people attended a demonstration, entitled Stand with Palestine, on Dublin’s O’Connell Street on Wednesday night.
It was one of a number of similar gatherings held throughout the State protesting against the Israeli bombardment of Gaza following the deadly assault by Hamas last weekend.
McGee reports from the Dublin demonstration here.
Budget woes for the Department of Health
The aftermath of Budget 2024 is obviously still a major domestic story.
As Pat Leahy and Paul Cullen report, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said that there will be a shortfall in the health budget next year.
Not terribly surprising perhaps but it is remarkable that Mr Donnelly has admitted this just a day after the budget was announced.
He told The Irish Times: “Like this year, it is entirely likely that a supplementary budget will be required next year because of healthcare inflation and patient demand.”
The Government has already indicated that a €1.1 billion supplementary estimate will be brought before the Dáil this year to meet the funding shortfall for the health service this year. Now Mr Donnelly has said clearly that there will be another shortfall next year, requiring another bailout.
The Department of Health sought more than €2 billion extra funding in budget negotiations with the Department of Public Expenditure, estimating that this figure was necessary to maintain the level of services provided this year due to increased costs and demand.
However, the Department of Public Expenditure rejected the request and instead granted just €708 million extra for existing services, bringing the total health budget to €22.5 billion.
Best Reads
Security and crime editor Conor Lally has the latest on the incident that saw an intruder gain access to the Government Buildings complex on budget day.
Miriam Lord writes that party leaders opted for cudgels, not scalpels, in the budget postmortem.
Jack Power reports on concerns that have been raised over the “potential mismanagement of” of donations made to homelessness charity the Peter McVerry Trust.
In Opinion, Newton Emerson askes what principle Sinn Féin is trying to uphold by getting involved in Catalan, Basque and Scottish independence arguments.
Playbook
The Dáil starts at 10.30am with Minister for Enterprise Simon Coveney taking parliamentary questions.
Leaders’ Questions is at noon.
Government Business in the afternoon is scheduled to include a resumption of the budget debate and statements on the sustainability of services provided by7 Section 39 and 56 organisations on behalf of the HSE and Tusla.
TDs will have a chance to raise ‘Topical Issues’ from 8.42pm.
There is no business scheduled in the Seanad.
RTÉ will be back before the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to be grilled over the controversy surrounding payments to former Late Late Shpow host Ryan Tubridy as well as separate spending of public money by the station. You can find our tee-up story which details how director general Kevin Bakhurst is expected to tell TDs the complete sale of RTÉ's Montrose campus is “unlikely”, here.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly will be before the Committee on Health which is considering the Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill 2023. This is the law to prohibit the sale of vapes to people under the age of 18.
The full Dáil and Committee schedules can be found here and here.
