
Kerry mother ‘who has opened her eyes to Gaza' says it is not too late to campaign
Siobhan who lives in Killarney, but is from Tralee, said she is in fact ashamed that she had no real idea of the unfolding nightmare in Gaza until recently. She did of course know the basics but she just had not tuned into the reality of it.
She says many may be in the same situation but in the past few months through media coverage she has tuned into the horrors of the situation.
"I am new to Palestinian activism. I am ashamed it took me so long to open my eyes to what is going on but now that I have I want to do something.
"I am a Mom and I can't believe the horror that is going there.'
She cannot now forget the reality of life there and wants to do something to help. She says she has never done anything like this before but says taking action is the right to thing.
She has launched the 'Write the Wrong campaign' - a letter writing campaign – to highlight her opposition to the treatment of those in Palestinian people. She and others are to write to the US Embassy in Dublin and to the Israeli Embassy in London voicing their anger and opposition to the situation in Gaza.
She is hoping through this that everyone posts their letters on Wednesday, August 20 that both embassies will receive a huge amount of post demonstrating the world-wide anger at the atrocities being committed.
"The aspiration is to flood the embassies and governments complicit with the Gaza genocide with letters.'
"We just have to do something and this is a not in your face campaign but gives people the power to do something to sit down and write.'
Siobhan says it is never too late to take action and this is her way of doing so. She says there are great groups right across the county and nationally playing a part in trying to stop the war and she hopes to follow in their footsteps. She has joined forces with Killarney for Palestine to write letters and she is urging as many people as possible to support the campaign. Details and sample letters are on Instagram under 'Write the Wrong Campaign'.

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Irish Independent
an hour ago
- Irish Independent
Israeli police use water cannons, arrest dozens as protesters demand hostage deal
The 'day of stoppage' was organized by two groups representing some of the families of hostages and bereaved families, weeks after militant groups released videos of emaciated hostages and Israel announced plans for a new offensive. Protesters fear further fighting could endanger the hostages who were seized by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 — the attack that triggered the war — and are believed to still be alive in captivity. Israel believes that some 20 are still alive, with Hamas holding the remains of about 30 others. 'We don't win a war over the bodies of hostages," protesters chanted. They gathered at dozens of points throughout Israel, including outside politicians' homes, military headquarters and on major highways, where they were sprayed with water cannons as they blocked lanes and lit bonfires. Some restaurants and theaters closed in solidarity. In Tel Aviv, among the protesters was a woman carrying a photo of an emaciated child from Gaza. Such images were once rare at Israeli demonstrations but now appear more often as outrage grows over conditions there. Police said they had arrested 38 people as part of the nationwide demonstration — one of the fiercest since the uproar over six hostages found dead in Gaza last September. 'Military pressure doesn't bring hostages back — it only kills them,' former hostage Arbel Yehoud said at a demonstration in Tel Aviv's hostage square. 'The only way to bring them back is through a deal, all at once, without games.' 'Today, we stop everything to save and bring back the hostages and soldiers. Today, we stop everything to remember the supreme value of the sanctity of life,' said Anat Angrest, mother of hostage Matan Angrest. 'Today, we stop everything to join hands — right, left, center and everything in between.' Protesters at highway intersections handed out yellow ribbons, the symbol that represents the hostages, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which organized the stoppage, said. Still, an end to the conflict does not appear near. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the immediate release of the hostages but is balancing competing pressures, haunted by the potential for mutiny within his coalition. 'Those who today call for an end to the war without defeating Hamas are not only hardening Hamas's position and delaying the release of our hostages, they are also ensuring that the horrors of Oct. 7 will be repeated," Netanyahu said on Sunday, in an apparent reference to the demonstrations. The last time Israel agreed to a ceasefire that released hostages, far-right members of his cabinet threatened to topple Netanyahu's government. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday called the stoppage 'a bad and harmful campaign that plays into Hamas' hands, buries the hostages in the tunnels and attempts to get Israel to surrender to its enemies and jeopardize its security and future.' Hospitals and eyewitnesses in Gaza reported at least 17 aid-seekers had been killed by Israeli forces on Sunday, including nine awaiting aid trucks close to the Morag corridor. Hamza Asfour, an aid-seeker, said he was just north of the corridor awaiting a convoy, when Israeli snipers fired, first to disperse the crowds, then from tanks hundreds of meters (yards) away. He saw two people with gunshot wounds — one in the chest and other in the shoulder. 'It's either to take this risk or wait and see my family die of starvation,' he said. 'There is no other option.' In response to questions about deaths the hospital reported from two incidents near its sites, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which runs the distribution points, said there was no gunfire Sunday 'at or near' its sites, which are located in military-controlled areas. Israel's military did not immediately respond to questions about strikes in the three areas. Israel's air and ground war has already killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza and displaced most of the population. The United Nations is warning that levels of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at their highest since the war began. The Hamas-led attack in 2023 killed around 1,200 people in Israel. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 61,900 people in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry, which does not specify how many were fighters or civilians but says around half were women and children. On Sunday, two children died of malnutrition related causes in Gaza, bringing the total over the last 24 hours to seven, according to the ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own. While demonstrators in Israel demanded a ceasefire, Israel began preparing for an invasion of Gaza City and other populated parts of the besieged strip, aimed at destroying Hamas. The military body that coordinates its humanitarian aid to Gaza said Sunday that the supply of tents to the territory would resume. COGAT said it would allow the United Nations to resume importing tents and shelter equipment into Gaza ahead of plans to forcibly evacuate people from combat zones 'for their protection.' The majority of assistance has been blocked from entering Gaza since Israel imposed a total blockade in March after a ceasefire collapsed when Israel restarted its offensive. Deliveries have since partially resumed, though aid organizations say the flow is far below what is needed. Some have accused Israel of 'weaponizing aid' through blockades and rules they say turn humanitarian assistance into a tool of its political and military goals. Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen's capital Sunday, escalating strikes on Iran-backed Houthis, who since the war began have fired missiles at Israel and targeted ships in the Red Sea. The Houthi-run Al-Masirah Television said the strikes targeted a power plant in the southern district of Sanhan, sparking a fire and knocking it out of service. Israel's military acknowledged Sunday's strikes, saying they were launched in response to missiles and drones aimed at Israel. While some projectiles have breached its missile defenses — notably during its 12-day war with Iran in June — Israel has intercepted the vast majority of missiles launched from Yemen.


RTÉ News
an hour ago
- RTÉ News
Israel attacks Gaza hospital, advances displacement plans
At least seven people were killed in an Israeli drone attack that hit a hospital courtyard in Gaza city, the territory's civil defence agency has said, as Palestinians in Gaza City prepared for Israeli plans to relocate residents to areas of southern Gaza. The civil defence agency said at least 18 people were killed in Israeli attacks today, which also included seven people shot dead by Israeli forces while waiting to collect food aid. The latest toll comes as Israel advanced plans to relocate Palestinians from Gaza City, more than a week after Israel's security cabinet approved plans to capture the territory's largest city. Israel's occupation of Gaza, including any expansion of its offensives, is illegal under international law. Hamas said that Israel's Gaza relocation plan constitutes a "new wave of genocide and displacement" for hundreds of thousands of residents in the area. The group said the planned deployment of tents and other shelter equipment by Israel in southern Gaza was a "blatant deception". The Hamas comments came in response to Israeli military plans to provide Gaza residents with tents and other shelter equipment starting from today ahead of relocating them to areas in the south of the enclave. The total number of hunger-related deaths in the Gaza Strip rose to 258, including 110 children, according to Gaza-based health authorities. Seven more people died from famine and malnutrition in the past 24 hours, including two children, the health authorities said. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said yesterday on X that one million women and girls are facing mass starvation, violence and abuse in Gaza. "Hunger is spreading fast in Gaza ... Women and girls are forced to adopt increasingly dangerous survival strategies like venturing out in search of food and water at the extreme risk of being killed," UNRWA said. The organisation urged the lifting of the Israeli blockade on Gaza, home to more than two million people, and bringing in humanitarian aid "at scale." Yesterday, Gaza's civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said conditions in Gaza City's Zeitun neighbourhood were rapidly deteriorating with residents having little to no access to food and water amid heavy Israeli bombardment. The spokesman added that about 50,000 people were estimated to be in that area of Gaza City, "the majority of whom are without food or water" and lacking "the basic necessities of life". In recent days, Gaza City residents have reported more frequent air strikes targeting residential areas, including Zeitun, while earlier this week Hamas denounced "aggressive" Israeli ground incursions. Earlier this month, the Israeli government approved plans to seize Gaza City and neighbouring camps, some of the most densely populated parts of the territory. The Israeli plan to expand the war has sparked an international outcry as well as domestic opposition. UN-backed experts have warned of widespread famine unfolding in the territory, where Israel has drastically curtailed the amount of humanitarian aid it allows in. Israeli attacks have killed more than 61,000 Palestinians since October 2023, according to figures from the health ministry in Gaza which the United Nations considers reliable. The current stage of the war was triggered by Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Protests in Israel call for Gaza ceasefire, hostage deal Meanwhile, demonstrators have taken to the streets across Israel calling for an end to the war in Gaza and a deal to release hostages still held by militants, as the military prepares a new offensive. The protests come more than a week after Israel's security cabinet approved plans to capture Gaza City, following 22 months of war that have created dire humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian territory. Forty-nine captives remain in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military said are dead. A huge Israeli flag covered with portraits of the remaining captives was unfurled in Tel Aviv's so-called Hostage Square, which has long been a focal point for protests throughout the war. Demonstrators also blocked several roads in the city, including the highway connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where demonstrators set tires on fire and caused traffic jams, according to local media footage. Protest organisers and the main campaign group representing the families of hostages also called for a general strike today. "I think it's time to end the war. It's time to release all of the hostages. And it's time to help Israel recover and move towards a more stable Middle East," said Doron Wilfand, a 54-year-old tour guide, at a rally in Jerusalem. However, some government members who oppose any deal with Hamas slammed the demonstrations. Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich decried "a perverse and harmful campaign that plays into the hands of Hamas". He argued that public pressure to secure a deal effectively "buries the hostages in tunnels and seeks to push the State of Israel to surrender to its enemies and jeopardise its security and future". Footage showed protesters at a rally in Beeri, a kibbutz near the Gaza border that was one of the hardest-hit communities in the Hamas attack, and Israeli media reported protests in numerous locations across the country.


Irish Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Ryan Tubridy responds to speculation he will run for the Irish Presidency
Ex-RTÉ star Ryan Tubridy has responded to messages from fans asking if he will be running for the Irish Presidency. The father-of-two has confirmed he will not be running for the Áras this year. The presenter, who currently hosts his own mid-morning show on Virgin Radio UK, broke his silence on the matter, confirming he wasn't planning on running for the gig. Taking to Instagram on Saturday, the Dubliner said: 'In answer to many Insta questions, two things I'm NOT doing this weekend: 1) Going to Oasis. 2) Running for President. He added: 'Coffee and crossword for now.' Alongside the comments, Ryan shared a screenshot of a message from a follower which read: 'Come on… run for President!!!! You know middle-aged women vote in Ireland and you know you want to!' Ryan opened up about how tough the Presidential election is in Ireland, saying he is "baffled by the unhinged nature of presidential election coverage". "As someone who has interviewed the last three presidents (and their rivals in the various elections) I am repeatedly taken aback at the level of acrimony, cruelty and let's face it, prurience that goes with the task of running for the Áras," the former RTÉ star wrote in the Mail on Sunday. "The bizarre thing about it is that as soon as the president is elected, the mob stops as if switched off with a button. The President is generally respected and afforded a dignity that tends to go with the ceremonial nature of the august position. "I continue to be baffled by the unhinged nature of presidential election coverage. I understand that there must be scrutiny and that the campaign is one long job interview but is there a need for all that frothing at the mouth? "In the past few days, Mairead McGuinness withdrew her candidacy for health reasons (and I wish her a speedy recovery). For the other candidates (real or imagined) it was gloves off before they barely opened their mouths. The Irish Times went for Tony Holohan as soon as he suggested that his private polling had him at a healthy 15 per cent." The race to the Áras is set to take place in the coming weeks ahead of Michael D Higgins' retirement from the role. President Michael D Higgins will be replaced later this year Among the names hoping for a nomination include Lord of the Dance Michael Flatley, Catherine Connolly, Bertie Ahern, Gareth Sheridan and Mary Lou McDonald. Last week, Mairead McGuinness was forced to pull out of the Presidential Race on medical advice with Catherine Connolly now favourite to win the vote. A presidential election is expected towards the end of October, as it must take place in the 60 days before the term of current president Michael D Higgins ends on November 11. To be eligible to run, a candidate must be an Irish citizen who is 35 or older. They must be nominated either by at least 20 members of the Oireachtas or at least four local authorities. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here. The Irish Mirror's Crime Writers Michael O'Toole and Paul Healy are writing a new weekly newsletter called Crime Ireland. Click here to sign up and get it delivered to your inbox every week