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Newry and Armagh MP Dáire Hughes has raised serious concerns about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza and warned that a new Israeli military offensive may be imminent. The Sinn Féin MP said international attention had been diverted away from the plight of the Palestinian people by wider regional conflicts.
Hughes said the situation in the West Bank had reached an unprecedented level. "Levels of Israeli aggression in the West Bank are now unprecedented. Terrorist settler pogroms in collusion with Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian population centres have intensified. Land seizures, demolitions and ethnic cleansing are happening on a daily basis. Mass arrests and detentions are increasing. The murder of West Bank citizens continues with total impunity."
Turning to Gaza, the Newry and Armagh MP said the ceasefire agreed under Phase 1 of the US-brokered deal was not being honoured. "In reality there is no ceasefire for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Israeli occupation forces continue to carry out aerial and ground attacks against civilians."
Hughes said that on 16 April five civilians, including one child, were killed, and that more than 770 Gazans had been killed since October 2025. He also pointed to ongoing restrictions at the Rafah crossing, saying the original agreement had stipulated that 600 aid lorries, including 50 trucks of fuel, would enter daily, but that total recorded aid levels remained below 39%, with less than 15% of agreed fuel having entered the Strip.
With a new round of negotiations taking place in Cairo between Palestinian representatives, US envoy Nikolai Mladenov and mediators, Hughes warned that deeply concerning signals were emerging from the talks. "There are deeply alarming indications that Israel plans to launch a new phase of its genocidal war. Reports suggest that full Palestinian disarmament and demobilisation of military structures are now being imposed as a precondition before the so called Board of Peace and the Israelis will allow the first Phase to be properly implemented; alongside an ultimatum threatening a new military offensive. This is another extreme violation of the ceasefire agreement."
The MP said the wider regional instability was being used as cover to advance what he described as a colonial strategy. "It is clear the Israelis and their US allies have not been serious about contributing to a peace settlement in Gaza. They are now using the wider instability and insecurity within the region as cover to accelerate the zionist colonial strategy in both Gaza and West Bank, by violating every standard of international law."
Hughes called for immediate international action, including termination of the EU-Israel Co-Association Agreement, full implementation of the Occupied Territories Bill by the Irish government, and a comprehensive programme of economic boycott and sanctions against Israel. "This is a moment to urgently intensify the global campaign against Israel's illegal occupation and apartheid system in Palestine," he said.
