Former European commissioner Phil Hogan has sought the Government’s backing to put his name forward for a senior job leading the food security agency of the United Nations (UN). The Department of Agriculture had canvassed for potential names the Government could consider nominating as a candidate to be the next director general of the UN … Read more
The Government is set to reject a recommendation from an Oireachtas committee to have a “formal legal review” before Irish troops are sent abroad on peacekeeping missions once the triple lock is abolished. The Cabinet is likely this morning to approve plans to push ahead with the abolition of the triple lock, which requires UN … Read more
At least 27 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli fire near a food distribution site in southern Gaza on Tuesday, health officials said, in a third day running of chaos and bloodshed to blight the aid operation. The Israeli military said its forces had opened fire on a group of people they viewed … Read more
The bodies of 79 people killed by Israeli strikes have been taken to hospitals in the past 24 hours, Gaza‘s health ministry said on Saturday, a toll that does not include hospitals in the battered north which it said were now inaccessible. The dead over the past day in Israel‘s renewed military offensive included nine … Read more
Israeli airstrikes killed at least six Palestinians guarding aid trucks against looters, Hamas officials said on Friday, as the head of the United Nations warned that only a “teaspoon” of aid was getting into Gaza following Israel’s 11-week-long blockade. The Israeli military said 107 trucks carrying flour and other foodstuffs as well as medical supplies … Read more
Israeli forces killed at least 55 Palestinians in air strikes in Gaza on Tuesday, local medics said, continuing to bombard the enclave despite mounting international pressure to halt military operations and allow unimpeded deliveries of aid. Britain announced it was suspending trade talks with Israel and summoning its ambassador over “egregious policies” in the occupied … Read more
“Palestine is a revealer,” says Francesca Albanese. The Italian lawyer and academic, who is the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territory, is on a videocall from her home in Tunisia and is speaking about US policy towards Israel and Palestine. The second Trump administration is “wildly and fastly contributing to … Read more
President Michael D Higgins has said that people in Gaza are being subjected to “forced starvation” and hunger is being used as “an instrument of war”. Addressing the National Famine Commemoration in Kilmallock, Co Limerick, on Saturday, the president said the world must act to prevent “a massive loss of life”. “Famine is a horrific … Read more
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), is a man who likes to make appointments. A few months after he became the first African elected to the position by United Nations member states in May 2017, he went on a solo run to announce the appointment of Zimbabwe’s authoritarian president … Read more
Tánaiste Simon Harris has described as “alarming” the reports of a planned extension of military operations by Israeli forces in Gaza. Mr Harris, who is Minister for Foreign Affairs, said in a statement on Monday that “such a move would result in further deaths, casualties and untold suffering for the Palestinian population who already face … Read more