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PRESIDENT MICHAEL D HIGGINS highlighted the “forced starvation” being endured by the people of Gaza in remarks made at the National Famine Commemoration in Kilmallock, Co Limerick today.
Higgins was the keynote speaker at the commemoration today. In his lengthy speech, he discussed the detrimental impact that the Great Famine – or An Gorta Mór – and how as a result, the Irish language and population were decimated.
“No other event in our history can be likened to the Great Famine, either for its immediate, tragic impact, or its legacy of involuntary emigration, cultural loss, increased decline of the Irish language, and demoralisation,” he said.
In Gaza, at least 100 people were killed in the latest wave of airstrikes, Gaza’s civil defence agency said.
Israel has enforced a total blockade on Gaza since 2 March, blocking food, fuel and water. On Monday, a UN-backed report warned that one in five people in Gaza now face starvation.
Higgins then spoke further on the ongoing conflict in Gaza. He said that having given the keynote address at the event on six occasions, he today spoke in his final time as president.
“Doing so presents me with the greatest difficulties. Famine is a horrific reality in so many parts of the world, repeated again and again, accepted with indifference. It is a great human failure.
“We are now also seeing starvation being used as an instrument of war. As peoples in countries such as Yemen and Sudan suffer hunger and famine created by conflict, so many additional deaths are caused by blockages to food and medical aid. The consequences of a forced starvation in Gaza are daily on our television screens.
“In relation to Gaza, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres stated recently: “As aid dries up, the floodgates of horror have re-opened. […] Gaza is a killing field – and civilians are in an endless death loop”.
“The Secretary General went on to draw the world’s attention to the Fourth Geneva Convention, which outlines the duty of Occupying Powers to ensure food and medical supplies for the population, as well as ensuring and maintaining medical and hospital establishments and services, public health and hygiene.”
Higgins criticised the Israeli blockade that is stopping humanitarian aid from entering Gaza.
“Hunger and displacement are among the greatest challenges facing the world. At their root, of course, is the impact of climate change, which is contributing not only to immediate conditions of famine, but also to the ability of breaking a limiting food dependence in the future.”
During Higgins’s visit to the Vatican for the funeral of Pope Francis, the president had similarly highlighted the ongoing crisis within Gaza and issued heavy criticism of Israel’s actions.
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