Activists stage 72-hour hunger strike in Cork for the people of Palestine

The Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign said it was 'to draw attention to Israel’s deliberate starvation of the Palestinian people'

Members of the Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign outside Cork City Hall. The group said it was taking this 'powerful act of solidarity and protest to draw attention to Israel’s deliberate starvation of the Palestinian people and highlight the urgent need for international intervention'.

Activists have begun a 72-hour hunger strike while sleeping outside Cork City Hall in protest against “Israel’s deliberate starvation of the Palestinian people” in Gaza.

As the war in Gaza grinds through a sixth month, a global food monitor warned that famine is imminent if a ceasefire is not agreed.

The UN Security Council have demanded an immediate ceasefire, for the month of Ramadan, “leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire.” 

On Monday morning, members of the Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign started their outdoor hunger strike in front of  City Hall which will continue until Thursday morning.

The group said it was taking this “powerful act of solidarity and protest to draw attention to Israel’s deliberate starvation of the Palestinian people and highlight the urgent need for international intervention".

Over 32,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, according to the Gazan Health Ministry.

Juri Hertel (62), one of the activists participating in the strike, said he had previously gone on hunger strike because he could not get vegetarian food after he was sent to a German prison in the 1980s for refusing to put on a soldiers’ uniform during conscription. 

(Left to right) Eve O'Riordan, Brian McMahon, Juri Hertel and Ilah Jefferies on the 72-hour fast at Cork City Hall to support the plight of the Palestinian people. Photo: Jean Connolly

“We’re having water only, and we’re also allowed to have salt as well — kitchen salt,” Mr Hertel told the Irish Examiner.

He added that while the weather has not been great to sleep outside City Hall, it has given “a good shelter".

“Tonight we are here, tomorrow we’re here," he said.

Eve O’Riordan, who joins Mr Hertel outside City Hall to fast for 72 hours, said: “We’re fasting to call on the Irish government to take concrete action to hold Israel and its allies like the US to account for its war crimes.”

Ms O’Riordan added that she felt “deeply uncomfortable” with the way the Government has been representing the Irish people.