THE UN’s agency in Gaza, on which much of the population depends for food is close to bankrupt, has reduced food rations, and will not be able to pay teachers, doctors and nurses past October, John Ging has warned.

THE dust seems to be settling frighteningly quickly after Israel’s illegal action against a convoy of vessels carrying aid to the citizens of Gaza.

DOZENS of masked gunmen stormed a UN-run Gaza summer camp burning it to the ground, threatening “harsh measures” against the Gaza director of the UN refugee agency.

IRELAND is unusual among western democracies in its continuing fight to have the plight of the Palestinians addressed.

IRISHMAN and UN relief chief John Ging yesterday praised Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin for his “political courage” in visiting Gaza as €12 million in Irish aid was confirmed for Palestinian refugees.

Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin will visit Gaza for the first time today.

The Irish man who heads the United Nations Relief and Works Agency has said there has been an "international political failure" over the blockade of Gaza.

Four intrepid cyclists on an epic 6,000km fundraising trip to Gaza were today refused entry to the troubled state.

A cross-party Oireachtas delegation will visit Gaza next week at the invitation of UN aid workers helping Palestinian refugees.

Irishman John Ging is due to receive a special Front Line award in Dublin today in recognition of his work with the Palestinian population in Gaza.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny today began a visit to the Middle East to witness the effects of the recent conflict between Hamas and the Israeli authorities.

THE head of the UN relief agency in Gaza has called on Israel to allow immediate access for supplies and aid into the war-torn region warning that up to 90% of its citizens are surviving on handouts.

Conflict-ravaged Gaza is still being starved of food and medicines but its children offer fresh hope for the future, an Irish UN official said today.

The head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in the Gaza Strip is visiting Ireland today for a series of engagements.

I KNOW I speak for so many people here in Ireland and throughout the world when I say John Ging, director of operations in Gaza for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, is an Irishman of whom we should all be proud.

THE Taoiseach has strongly condemned the Israeli attacks in Gaza — denouncing them as “disproportionate” and a hindrance to long-term peace in the region.

International outrage grew over civilian deaths in Gaza tonight after an Israeli bombardment killed at least 34 people, many of them children, near a UN school.

Israeli forces edged closer to Gaza’s major population centres today attacking new targets and taking more civilian lives after ignoring mounting international calls for an immediate ceasefire.

US President George W Bush, in his first public reaction to Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza, has said that the Jewish state was justified in protecting itself against Hamas militants.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair called off a ground-breaking visit to Gaza today in his role as Middle East envoy after a specific warning of an assassination plot.

UN construction work in Gaza has stopped on all building projects because of a shortage of materials in the Mideast.

Palestinian militants opened fire at a festival at a UN-operated primary school in the southern Gaza Strip today, killing a bodyguard of a local Fatah leader and wounding seven other people, medical officials said.

An Irish man - who is a senior official of the United Nations in Gaza - has escaped an apparent kidnapping attempt.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency today said it is adding 100,000 Gaza residents, mostly government employees and their families, to its food distribution programme to meet an increasingly desperate situation there.