Public meeting to replace weekly Palestine march due to weather warning

The weekly Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign protest against Israel’s war on Gaza will this week take the form of a public meeting at UCC, due to the weather alert in place for Cork.

A public meeting with Professor Nick Maynard, a surgeon recently returned from Gaza, will be held on Saturday in UCC (Boole 4), commencing at 1.30pm, and is open to all.

This weekend would have marked the 26th weekend in a row that a protest march was held in Cork city, but an orange weather warning in place from 7am to 2pm on Saturday led the organisers at Cork Palestine Solidarity campaign to plan an indoor event instead.

Professor Maynard, 61, is a consultant gastrointestinal surgeon at Oxford University Hospital who has been visiting Gaza to teach surgery since 2010 and also works with Medical Aid for Palestinians, which advocates and campaigns in support of Palestinians’ rights to health and dignity.

In January, following his return to the UK from Gaza, Professor Maynard said, “It was much worse than we could possibly have imagined.

“I couldn’t compare it to anything, it was just like nothing I’ve seen on Earth.” 

 He also spoke of his horror when treating the injuries of a six-year-old boy, saying, “It was the single-worst thing I’ve seen in my 35-year medical career.” Professor Maynard had been working at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in January when he and other staff, as well as 600 patients, were ordered to leave by the Israel Defence Forces.

At least two people were killed and several others wounded when an Israeli air strike hit the crowded courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Hospital earlier this week.

Professor Maynard has also worked in Al-Shifa Hospital many times over the years and “unequivocally” refutes the Israeli claim that Hamas had used the hospital as a base, saying that during his many stints there over ten years, he saw no evidence of this.

This week, the Israel Defence Forces ended a two-week assault on the hospital, during which up to 400 people were killed and most of the hospital was destroyed.

Professor Maynard will return to Gaza in mid-April.