Cross-party delegation to visit Gaza

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

The trip will include members of the Foreign Affairs and European Affairs Committees and will leave on Monday for five days.

They will meet representatives of UNRWA – United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees – headed by Irishman John Ging.

Labour Party TD Michael D Higgins, who sits on the committee, said members would be assessing the humanitarian situation on the ground.

“It is simply not good enough that the 1.5 million people living in Gaza, 850,000 of whom are being fed by UNRWA, do so in appalling conditions amongst the rubble, in conditions of siege, while the international community debates ineffectually as to the way forward,” Mr Higgins said.

“In this light it is timely that we now visit the area to see the situation as it pertains on the ground, and in particular to assess the humanitarian situation in Gaza, to review political developments and to hold discussions in Israel and the Palestinian Authority on the Middle East Peace process.”

In January, the Government provided €500,000 in immediate humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza following Israel’s bombardment of the strip.

A further €2m was pledged in March.

Mr Higgins said the delegation would focus on the need for both sides in the dispute to come to a settlement.