Irish Examiner view: International aid has a long way to go yet

Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip. Picture: Jehad Alshrafi/AP

The deaths of at least 20 people at an aid distribution point in Gaza is the latest grim event in a war that has already officially claimed more than 58,000 lives and wounded at least 139,000.

The claims by the Israeli authorities and the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation that the deaths — 19 crushed and at least one stabbed —
were down to armed “agitators” linked to Hamas seem hollow. 

What benefit would there be to Hamas? There is no indication that there was some sort of armed raid on the supplies — and witnesses say the guards used pepper spray on the crowd, who became trapped between locked gates and a fence.

That’s not to give Hamas an air of nobility. 

Far from it. It was, we recall, responsible for the deaths of 1,200 Israelis in October 2023 which sparked the current war, though the scale of that has long eclipsed any sense of justice and tipped well toward brutal punitive action in a region where civilians are taking the overwhelming brunt of the damage.

Gazans are already desperate, with more than 870 killed trying to get food since May, the Israeli gunfire blamed for most of them. 

Some 5,600 people have been wounded walking hours to get food. 

Children were among those killed trying to get water this week. 

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None of this should be allowed to happen, and yet in the face of American opposition the international response, while gathering momentum, has a long way to go.

UN efforts have been sidelined in favour of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), with Israeli authorities claiming the UN system was being looted by Hamas and the UN, meanwhile, saying the foundation’s system (which uses private contractors to get supplies into Gaza) is a breach of humanitarian impartiality.

The UN Relief and Works Agency, the only such agency with the scale to make a significant difference in Gaza, has had its work severely curtailed, as Israel alleges it has been infiltrated by Hamas. 

Nonetheless, it has identified that malnutrition rates have doubled among the population, with Unicef separately noting a surge in malnutrition among children.

As defence analyst Dorcha Lee notes, there are 6,000 trucks with UN aid ready to enter Gaza, but they are not being allowed in. 

The GHF, meanwhile, has only one functioning centre. 

There are more than 2m people in the Gaza Strip, and most of them have been displaced by the Israeli onslaught.

And that’s not even taking into account the Israel Defense Force’s ongoing operations in the West Bank, which tends to be reported less given the scale of the brutality in Gaza.

With ceasefire talks making little if any progress, and the Donald Trump plan of clearing the strip (and its people) and rebuilding it as sort of resort still being mooted, it is ever more imperative that an international peacekeeping force be deployed — or at the very least, an international humanitarian effort.

Angel and devil

Technology in many ways reflects the dichotomy of human nature, both angel and devil (or god and dog, if you prefer). 

AI has proven itself no different, with examples this week showcasing both its beneficial and bizarre uses, even if it remains a clever branding label rather than demonstrating any actual intelligence.

In Thursday’s edition, you will read of researchers at the University of Dundee who have published the results of a trial using AI software to evaluate the eye scans of people with type 2 diabetes. 

The tool was instructed to look for things such as narrowing of the blood vessels, which it then used to predict the chances the individual could have a heart attack or stroke within 10 years.

While it isn’t intended to replace medics or the need for regular checkups, it nonetheless represents the practical, beneficial use that the technology can have. 

Also, it was trained on 4,200 images, which is a very specific dataset and not the rapacious use of copyrighted material you’ll find in ChatGPT, Grok, and others.

Meanwhile, an exercise in the bizarre, Elon Musk’s Grok has launched AI companions, including an animated female capable of giving pornographic answers. 

Grok, you may remember, recently went on an antisemitic diatribe in response to user questions, referring to itself as “MechaHitler”.

This, unlike the tool used by the medical researchers, uses the web and in a large part messages posted on Musk’s X platform, which has become a cesspool of the far-right since he acquired it.

From angel to devil, from god to dog.

And while it seems far-reaching to be concerned about human attachments to AI bots, it’s something that is already happening, and has been for a while, if not with this level of prominence.

The film Her, starring Joaquin Phoenix and the voice of Scarlett Johansson as the AI bot he falls in love with, was supposed to be more a warning about the damage of technology, though you’d be forgiven for thinking that the tech industry has instead seen it as an aspiration.

One wonders what half-baked “solution” to a non-problem the industry will dream up next, when it has the capability of doing actual, tangible good.

Sport for all

Donald Trump’s regular weekend golfing breaks may give the sport attention for the wrong reasons, but it will be in the spotlight for the right ones this week with Rory McIlory out to avenge the misery of six years ago at Royal Portrush, where the Open tees off on Thursday.

And while golf has an intangible sort of magic to many fans, it matters in real value terms as well: Research shows the sport is worth more than €710m to the republic’s economy, including more than €275m in various taxes.

Royal Portrush Golf Club. Picture: Sportsfile

Worth noting too that memberships are up 20% in five years — the country’s 377 clubs have 223,000 members, with some 350,000 non-members playing at least one full length game a year. 

Reasons are attributed to the successes of the likes of Shane Lowry, McIlroy, and Leona Maguire, but also to the sport’s efforts to make itself more accessible to a wider audience. 

It’s a reminder that sport — in whatever form — should be open to everyone, with all the benefits it brings.