What Ireland can do to help stop genocide in Gaza

AHEAD of Tuesday's second anniversary of the October 7th attacks which sparked the slaughter in Gaza, Action Aid Ireland CEO KAROL BALFE speaks about the situation on the ground in the beleaguered Strip and what the EU and Ireland need to do to bring the killing to an end.

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TOMORROW is the grimmest of milestones, marking two years of atrocities horror and brutality in Gaza.

Firstly, there were the horrors in Israel with the killing of civilians and taking of hostages, lives shattered and ruined.

Followed by the start of a savage and genocidal response against civilians in Gaza with Israel inflicting what is surely one of the cruellest and most relentless attacks on an imprisoned population ever seen in the 21st century.

While peace talks continue, Gaza remains a horror beyond words. Any solution must have Palestinians at the centre, and full accountability for war crimes.

Women and children in Gaza have been forced to endure a trauma and suffering we cannot even begin to imagine here in Ireland. Around 66,000 people are estimated to have been killed, but the true number is believed to be much higher.

Almost 20,000 children have been killed, including an estimated 300 newborns and almost 1,000 children under one. Almost 40,000 kids have lost one or both parents since October 2023. Almost half of that has lost both parents.