Amnesty International Ireland has again condemned indiscriminate attacks on civilians by all parties to the conflict in Gaza and southern Israel. The organisation went on to call on the Irish Government to summon the Israeli Ambassador to stress Irish opposition to indiscriminate attacks by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.
Amnesty International is also calling on for a suspension of talks on the EU-Israel Action Plan, designed to deepen social, economic and political links, until concrete measures to address the human rights and humanitarian catastrophe are agreed.
Amnesty International Ireland Executive Director Colm O’Gorman said:
“In March of last year we published The Gaza Strip: A humanitarian implosion. At the time we described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as worse ‘than it has ever been since the start of the Israeli military occupation in 1967’.
“Over 1.5 million Palestinians are now living in a humanitarian disaster zone. Even before Israel’s offensive began, almost two weeks ago, supplies of food, water, power and medicine were completely inadequate. Heavy bombing and indiscriminate shelling have pushed what was already a desperate situation over the edge.
“The announcement by Israel of a three hour suspension of attacks every day to allow Gazans to get supplies falls well short of what is necessary and ignores the dire shortages of basic essentials in Gaza.
“Indiscriminate attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians are illegal. Amnesty International has repeatedly condemned any and all such incidents. We will continue to do so and reiterate our demand that Hamas cease all such attacks immediately.
“But Israel’s policy of collective punishment is a clear and explicit violation of international law. The refusal to allow humanitarian aid or observers into Gaza is a simple violation of basic notions of humanity.
“We have written to the Taoiseach asking him to summon the Israeli Ambassador to stress Ireland’s opposition to the continued disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force by Israel and to reiterate the Government’s demand that Israel allow urgently needed humanitarian aid into Gaza.”
Amnesty International Ireland is also calling on the Irish Government to:
- Publically support calls for the deployment of international monitors to verify compliance with international law by both Israel and the Palestinian administration in Gaza.
- Offer leadership in Europe by working to agree a common EU position calling for a strong UN Security Council resolution condemning attacks against civilians by both Israel and Hamas and demanding that such attacks cease immediately.
- Call for a suspension of bilateral talks with Israel on the specific details of the future EU-Israel Action Plan pending agreement on concrete measures to address the human rights and humanitarian catastrophe. Ireland should also commit to pushing for the final Action Plan to contain human rights action points and benchmarks for Israel.
- Support a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs to discuss how Ireland can best assist international efforts to end attacks on civilians and get humanitarian aid into Gaza.
“The solution to this lies in dialogue between all parties and with the international community,” added Mr O’Gorman.
“Our members will be targeting both the Israeli Ambassador and the Hamas administration along with the Irish Government urging them all to take action to end attacks on civilians in Gaza and southern Israel and to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe.”
Find out more about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza
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