Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Government is extremely concerned about the appalling suffering of the people of Gaza. We continue to focus diplomatic engagement on the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire, the unconditional release of hostages and a sustained scale up in humanitarian access.

Ireland has provided a total of €56 million in support for the Palestinian people since the beginning of 2023. Of this, €40 million has been provided in humanitarian assistance in response to the suffering caused by the conflict in Gaza since last October. This includes €20 million which we are providing in immediate core funding for 2024 for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which is mandated to provide life-saving essential services for 5.7 million Palestine refugees. Last year, we provided €18 million to UNRWA.

Other partners supported include the UN OCHA Occupied Palestinian Territories Humanitarian Fund, the World Food Programme (WFP), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). Each of these agencies plays a critical role in the provision of humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza in extraordinarily difficult circumstances.

Through Ireland’s Rapid Response Initiative we have provided 50 tonnes of relief supplies, including 500 family tents and 3000 tarpaulins from Irish Aid emergency stocks for distribution in Gaza. These were distributed to 1,500 families in Gaza, in partnership with Trócaire and Catholic Relief Services. In addition, Ireland has provided three pallets of medical blood bags through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) in response to a request from the Egyptian health authorities,

Ireland is open to considering the option of airdrops of humanitarian assistance and this is among several issues that have been raised in recent contacts at political and official level between Ireland and Jordan.

However, such initiatives must not distract from the urgent need to dramatically scale up the level of humanitarian assistance entering Gaza by land. This is the priority of humanitarian actors on the ground and must remain our primary focus.