Healthcare workers join 99th Cork city march for people of Gaza

Around 50 Cork healthcare workers joined hundreds of people for the 99th consecutive weekly Cork city rally in solidarity with the people of Gaza on Saturday.

There has been a rally in Cork every week since the latest and bloodiest round of the ancient conflict in the Middle East was sparked by the Hamas-backed attacks of October 7, 2023, in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and some 250 hostages taken.

Since then, the death toll caused by Israeli attacks on Gaza, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, is now close to 63,400.

Two weekends ago, the United Nations-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) officially declared famine in Gaza City.

Warnings

That determination came after months of warnings by aid groups that Israel’s military offensive, and its restrictions of food and other aid into Gaza, were causing high levels of starvation among Palestinian civilians, particularly children.

A quarter of all Palestinians in Gaza are starving, more than 500,000 people, the IPC said, with that number expected to rise to more than 640,000 within weeks.

Saturday’s rally in Cork heard that more than 1,500 healthcare workers have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, with 385 doctors and nurses being currently held without charge.

Human right

The names of those healthcare workers were read out at the rally, and Dr Noelle O’Sullivan, a GP based in Macroom, said healthcare is a human right, and the protection of healthcare workers and healthcare infrastructure is enshrined in international law.

“We protested to demand that Israel release all the unlawfully detained healthcare workers and end the illegal siege of Gaza so that desperately needed medical supplies can enter the region .We also demand that our Government must implement sanctions against Israel now,” said Dr O’Sullivan.

Next week’s city centre rally will be the 100th such protest since this conflict began.