Israel\u2019s ban on UNRWA operating within its territory will exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank and must be met with the strongest possible response by the international community, according to Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon.<\/p>\n
Deputy Gannon, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on foreign affairs, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cYet again, the Israeli government have shown there are no limits to the depths of depravity they will go to when it comes to the collective punishment of the Palestinian people. By targeting the UN\u2019s lead humanitarian operation in the region, Israel is flagrantly breaching international law by using starvation as a weapon of war.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis law, when it comes into effect, will inevitably lead to the collapse of lifesaving aid and medical relief efforts in Gaza and the West Bank, marking another new low in Israel\u2019s genocidal campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis callous decision flies in the face of a recent warning from the US that it would consider withholding military assistance to Israel if the flow of aid into Gaza was not increased. Given the outcome of the Israeli parliament\u2019s vote, Washington must now make good on this threat.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, we also heard more words of condemnation of Israel from the Taoiseach and T\u00e1naiste, yet the Irish Government still refuses to enact the Occupied Territories Bill before the general election \u2013 despite there being no legal impediment to them doing so.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnless there are meaningful diplomatic and economic sanctions taken against Israel by the international community, including Ireland, Netanyahu\u2019s murderous regime will continue to act with impunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
October 29, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Israel\u2019s ban on UNRWA operating within its territory will exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank and must be met with the strongest possible response by the international community, according to Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon. Deputy Gannon, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on foreign affairs, said: \u201cYet again, the Israeli government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4584,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[316,529,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gary-gannon","category-gaza","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n