Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said humanity is “shocked by what is happening in Gaza” as more than 100 aid organisations have warned that “mass starvation” was spreading in the Palestinian territory.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Mr Martin said what is happening in Gaza is “beyond any comprehension” adding that the images coming from Gaza are “horrific”.
“It’s a stain on Israel at this stage. It’s a shame that any government would continue a war that is wreaking such devastation on poor children and innocent children at the scale and level that is happening,” he said.
The Taoiseach called for a “massive surge” in humanitarian aid into Gaza, adding that he is “very disturbed by the undermining of the UN and the relief organisations”.
Israel is facing mounting international pressure over the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, where more than two million people face severe shortages of food and other essentials after 21 months of conflict.
Watch: Taoiseach says a shame Israel continues to wreak war on innocent children
The UN said that Israeli forces had killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food aid since the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation started operations in late May effectively sidelining the existing UN-led system.
Meanwhile, the head of a humanitarian organisation operating in Gaza said the diplomatic impotence of Western nations in relation to Israeli actions in Gaza has been “astounding”.
General Secretary of the Norwegian Refugee Council Jan Egeland said the situation in Gaza is a “stain on the Western conscience” which he said has been aiding Israel since the start of the current stage of the war.
Speaking on the same programme, Mr Egeland said his organisation has been unable to get a single truck into Gaza for 146 days.
“And we have enormous quantities of relief, paid by European donors standing at the gates of Gaza.
“But the Israeli war machine prevents us from going in while they are bombing the civilian population.”
Mr Egelund said it is an “intolerable situation” where aid workers are “denied coming to the relief of starving babies” and denied the ability to help the wounded and to bring safe drinking water and food to the civilian population.
He added that a humanitarian corridor would be “better than nothing” but that the only thing which will work is a total ceasefire and the opening of all border crossings.
Mr Egeland said allowing humanitarian agencies permission to enter Gaza immediately is the “only hope”.
“From the NGOs, the UN and the Red Cross and Red Crescent. To help these two million people.
“They are dying, babies are dying every day from starvation. That’s the only hope now.”
Mr Egeland said that while Ireland, Norway and Spain have been better than other Western nations on the situation in Gaza, their power lies in telling the US, Germany and others who support Israel that this support should not continue.
“So, tell Trump. Ireland has a voice in Washington. That’s where you have to work,” he said.
Palestinians trapped in cycle of hope and heartbreak – NGOs
A statement with 111 signatories, including Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Save the Children and Oxfam, warned that “our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away”.
The groups called for an immediate negotiated ceasefire, the opening of all land crossings and the free flow of aid through UN-led mechanisms.
In their statement, the humanitarian organisations said that warehouses with tonnes of supplies were sitting untouched just outside the territory, and even inside, as they were blocked from accessing or delivering the goods.
“Palestinians are trapped in a cycle of hope and heartbreak, waiting for assistance and ceasefires, only to wake up to worsening conditions,” the signatories said.
“It is not just physical torment, but psychological. Survival is dangled like a mirage,” they added.
“The humanitarian system cannot run on false promises. Humanitarians cannot operate on shifting timelines or wait for political commitments that fail to deliver access.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the “horror” facing Palestinians in Gaza under Israeli military attack was unprecedented in recent years.
The head of Gaza’s largest hospital said 21 children had died due to malnutrition and starvation in the Palestinian territory in the past three days.
Israel and Hamas have been engaging in drawn-out negotiations in Doha since 6 July as mediators scramble to end nearly two years of war.
But after more than two weeks of back and forth, efforts by mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States are at a standstill.
More than two dozen Western countries recently urged an immediate end to the war, saying suffering in Gaza had “reached new depths”.
It comes as the United States said its envoy Steve Witkoff will head to Europe this week for talks on Gaza and may then visit the Middle East.
Mr Witkoff comes with “a strong hope that we will come forward with another ceasefire as well as a humanitarian corridor for aid to flow, that both sides have in fact agreed to,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters.
Israeli attacks have killed 59,106 Palestinians in Gaza in the current stage of the war, mostly civilians, according to the health officials in the enclave.
Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
