Paul Murphy will join Gaza aid flotilla aiming 'to break Israeli occupation' 

People Before Profit–Solidarity Paul Murphy TD said that he believes that, while Irish people want further action on the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza, the Irish Government has not got far enough. Picture: Sam Boal/Collins

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy will take part in a flotilla which will attempt to gain access to Gaza next week.

Mr Murphy confirmed on Friday that he will take part in the Global Sumud Flotilla which calls itself "a co-ordinated, non-violent fleet of mostly small vessels sailing from ports across the Mediterranean to break the Israeli occupation of Gaza".

The flotilla will be joined by campaigner Greta Thunberg and actress Susan Sarandon as it aims to bring aid to Gazan shores. Cork comedian and activist Tadhg Hickey will also join the flotilla, which aims to arrive in the Gaza Strip between September 16 and September 17.

The United Nations has said 514,000 people are currently experiencing famine in Gaza.

Speaking at Leinster House, Mr Murphy confirmed that he would join the action. He was previously detained at the Rafah Crossing in Egypt.

He said that he believes that, while Irish people want further action on the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza, the Irish Government has not got far enough.

"This is going to be the largest flotilla that we've ever seen, an attempt to break the siege of Gaza," Mr Murphy said.

"There are  participants from at least 44 countries. There's talk of about 50 boats going ... about 10 participants from Ireland are all uniting together and taking this action to try to bring food, try to bring medical supplies to the people of Gaza, because obviously, like anyone decent in the world, we are horrified at the unfolding nightmare worsening day by day for almost two years now in Gaza as Israel implements its genocide.

We know that 60,000 people have been killed. More than 20,000 of them have been children

"Right now, what we've seen over the last number of months has been the creation of an Israeli-created famine, recognised now by the UN," he added.

"On top of that, starvation is the slaughter of tens of people almost every single day while they're queuing for food. And I think, for Irish people in particular, there's an historical resonance. 

"We had our own man-made, imperialist-made famine in this country 180 years ago, and I think people are just utterly horrified to see it getting worse."

Arms, funding, and political support

Mr Murphy said that the flotilla was acting "in the context of Western government complicity in this genocide".

"This could not be happening without the arms, funding, with political support of the Big Western powers, the US, the European Union, Germany, Britain, France, and many others."

On Friday, Israel’s military said it was suspending noon ceasefires which allow for the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza City. It called the city “a dangerous combat zone”.

Meanwhile, hundreds of employees of the United Nations’ leading human rights agency have backed an internal letter telling its leadership to declare Israel’s offensive in Gaza a genocide and to call on UN member states to suspend arms sales to Israel.

Displaced Palestinians fleeing northern Gaza Strip move with their belongings on a street in Gaza City on Thursday. Picture: Abdel Kareem Hana

The 1,100-word letter, signed by about a quarter of the 2,000 staff of the Geneva- and New York-based Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), says the Israeli offensive in Gaza meets the legal threshold of genocide, adding that this means “arms sales, transfers, and related logistical or financial support to Israeli authorities” constitutes a clear breach of international law by all those involved.

OHCHR employees told The Guardian they were frustrated with the failure of agency’s head, Volker Türk, to “move beyond condemning Israel”.

UN officials have said that only an international court can declare a genocide — a process that can take many years. Experts on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) said in July that a judgment on whether Israel was committing genocide in Gaza was unlikely before the end of 2027 at the earliest.

Many international human rights groups have already said a genocide is under way in Gaza, where the Israeli offensive has killed more than 63,000 people, injured 150,000, and displaced almost the entire 2.3m population. UN-backed experts have declared a famine in parts of the devastated territory.