IRELAND’S PRESIDENT MICHAEL D. Higgins has criticised Israel’s forces for releasing a statement which claimed aid reaching Gaza at a slow place is down to the The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). 

Higgins said that the statement issued on behalf of Israeli forces is “deeply concerning and potentially undermines and detracts from the integrity of UNRWA and its critical and vital work at this time”. 

The President said that those who support the UN and its agencies should “seek independent verification of what is blocking aid in Gaza”. 

Higgins said that everyone who believes in the United Nations and its work, and who respect the resolution it passed two weeks ago, “must back UNRWA and the vital work that it is doing in the most difficult of circumstances”. 

Last Friday the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for the expedition of aid deliveries to citizens in Gaza who are starving and without adequate medical care. 

The vote was 13-0, with the US and Russia abstaining. The US, however, did not veto the resolution. Russia wanted the resolution to feature stronger language and called the version of it that passed “toothless”, the US took an opposing stance. 

Its passing came after intense diplomatic negotiations, and the resolution that passed featured considerably weakened language. It did not call for an immediate ceasefire. 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Twitter, now known as X, that he hopes the resolution “may help improve the delivery of much-needed aid, but a humanitarian ceasefire is the only way to begin meeting the desperate needs of people in Gaza and end their ongoing nightmare”. 

The UN Palestinian envoy said it took the Security Council 75 days “to finally utter the words ‘cessation of hostilities,’”. Riyad Mansour did say, however, that the resolution was a “step in the right direction”.