An emergency motion has been submitted for the Palestinian flag to be flown over Dublin City Hall in order to show solidarity and increase pressure for a military ceasefire in Gaza.
Independent councillors have called for the flag to be erected for a week, in an “act of solidarity with the people of Gaza”, following the IDF bombing of the Gaza strip.
The council’s monthly meeting on Monday evening will see the emergency motion fully addressed.
The Independents say “support for the Ukrainian people shown by Dublin City Council in the aftermath of the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine has set a precedent.”
It adds that the “indiscriminate targeting of people in Gaza, similar to the indiscriminate targeting of the Ukrainian people, warrants an equivalent public display of opposition.”
On Monday it was reported that 10,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since war broke out on October 7th, including over 4,000 children.
The territory has seen sustained retaliatory airstrikes, following Hamas’s armed incursion into Southern Israel on October 7th.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin joined neighbouring Middle Eastern countries in denouncing the military responses of Israel, saying: “We now urgently need a humanitarian ceasefire and a significant scaling up of humanitarian access to get vital supplies to civilians.”
Councillor Noelene Reilly said that “flying the flag will offer public support for the people of Gaza and increase the pressure for an immediate ceasefire.”
