Rallies held across island of Ireland to call for ceasefire in Gaza

Hundreds have gathered at rallies in Belfast and Dublin to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Demonstrations in support of Palestine were also planned in counties across the island of Ireland on Saturday including in Cork, Limerick, Armagh, Clare and Sligo.

The rally in Dublin marched up O’Connell Street towards the GPO, and in Belfast protesters marched on Royal Avenue before gathering to listen to speakers at City Hall.

Crowds chanted “Free Palestine” and “stop Gaza genocide”, with some carrying signs reading “it’s ethnic cleansing not conflict” and “end Israeli apartheid”.

Some at the rally in Dublin carried bundles of white fabric stained red to signify children killed in Israeli air strikes.

The Palestinian death toll in Gaza on Saturday rose to just over 7,700 people since October 7, with 377 deaths reported since late on Friday, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry.

A majority of those killed have been women and minors, the ministry said.

An Israeli military spokesman said Israel is expanding its ground operation in Gaza, with infantry and armoured vehicles backed by “massive” strikes.

Israel declared war on militant group Hamas after its fighters launched an attack in southern Israel three weeks ago.

Speakers at the pro-Palestine rally in Belfast included a number of representatives from the Muslim community in Northern Ireland.

Dr Hani Mahdi from Gaza called on those in attendance to “remember the people of Gaza”.

“Remember people are being killed, and living without electricity, gas, water and now no communication,” he said.

“Just remember this when you feel down in your life, when you feel you have nothing left, just remember Gaza people.

“A lot of Palestinian people lost members of their family, but we will not stop demanding our rights.

“We will fight and struggle until our last drop of our blood.”

Dr Mahdi said he had lost 30 family members in Gaza.

“All our homes were destroyed. Most of our martyrs, our children and women, most of our young we don’t know where we are now,” he said.

“Unfortunately, Israel is continuing with this unhinged project of eliminating all of us and perhaps if I were not among you today, there is high possibility you would not see me today as my area was completely destroyed and levelled to the ground.”

Dr Mahdi called out to the crowd: “Where is the humanity?”

A number of local politicians spoke at the rally in Belfast including Sinn Fein MLA Declan Kearney, SDLP councillor Paul Doherty, People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll, and Green Party councillor Anthony Flynn.

Mr Kearney told the PA news agency demonstrations in support of Palestine are “more important than ever.”

He said: “The bombardment of Gaza has intensified overnight and what we need to see is an unconditional ceasefire being called, urgent resolution of the humanitarian catastrophe that’s taking place across Gaza and we also need to have a decisive international intervention based upon rigorously impartial leadership, which guarantees and puts a talk process leading to a permanent peace solution and the Middle East.”

Sinn Fein councillors abstained from a motion before Derry City and Strabane District Council on Wednesday calling for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassadors to Ireland and the UK.

A small number of people shouted from the crowd while Mr Harvey spoke, calling on his party to also support expulsion of the ambassador.

Mr Kearney said Sinn Fein’s focus was on “working directly in hand with the Palestinian people.”

“The world is on the edge. We have reached a tipping point,” he said.

“And we need to see an unconditional ceasefire, called immediately to ensure that the type of interventions that are necessary to save lives and Gaza are now taking place.”

Also among politicians who spoke at the rally were representatives from a number of trade unions including Unison and the Irish National Teachers Organisation.

Paddy Mackel, chair of Belfast Trades Council, said the conflict “did not start three weeks ago”.

“You cannot ignore the illegal occupation of Palestine, the recolonisation of large parts of the occupied West Bank,” he said.

“The decades-long imprisonment by apartheid Israel of three million civilians in Gaza, the ongoing theft of Palestinian lands, the destruction of homes, the kidnapping and imprisonment without trial or legal support of hundreds of Palestinian children every single year.

“All of these actions have been carried out with impunity by the apartheid Israeli state that has really stepped when the rest of the world has colluded by remaining silent.

“Even Palestinians who understandably conclude that nobody in the world cares about them or their plight, the different attitude to how Ukraine and illegal occupation there was treated by the western world is not lost on Palestinians.

“International law applies in all conflict situations, which equally applies to Palestinians when they are the targets.”

Pro-Israel rallies have also been held in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.