EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT FACES CRITICISM OVER GAZA INACTION

In a passionate speech, Irish member of the European Parliament (MEP) Aodhán Ó Ríordáin condemned EU inaction amidst Israel’s military onslaught in Gaza that had k*lled as many as 186,000 Palestinians by July 2024, according to the British medical journal, The Lancet.

Ríordáin unleashed the fiery presentation during a plenary debate where MEPs debated the future of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. This political and trade accord requires Israel to obey international human-rights laws.

MEPs called for the suspension of the agreement after reports of Israeli troops gunning down and burying 15 Red Crescent aid workers and their vehicles in a collective grave at Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital. Reports say they were last seen on 23 March.

Meanwhile, Israel has intensified airstrikes, enforced large-scale evacuations and imposed movement restrictions within the West Bank. Despite a 19 January ceasefire, Israel has also denied humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, and more than 1,000 medical personnel have been k*lled since 7 October 2023.

While some MEPs have demanded the EU cut funding from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that no other organisation has the capacity or mandate to do its life-saving work.

Ríordáin also blasted Germany's deportation of two Irish nationals, Roberta Murray and Shane O'Brien, for participating in pro-Palestine demonstrations.

Video credit: @Europarl_EN (X)