GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.
1. In our main story this morning, Niall O’Connor reports that the Palestinian Ambassador said that she was filled with horror as news filtered through of the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israelis.
Dr Jilan Abdalmajid sat down with The Journal at the Palestinian Embassy in Dublin this week and spoke about her thoughts on the events that have led to thousands of deaths of people across Gaza and the West Bank.
She said that she has also sent a message back to the Palestinian Authority to seek their help to free the Israeli-Irish hostage Emily Hand – the eight-year-old girl’s father Thomas is originally from Dublin. She is also working back channels to attempt to get 40 Irish citizens out of Gaza via the Egyptian border.
2. This morning, Israel is facing growing calls to protect civilians in Gaza as its battle with Hamas encircled the territory’s main hospital, where an aid agency described the situation as “catastrophic”.
Thunder-like sound of explosions rang through the night in heavy fighting between Hamas and Israeli forces near Gaza’s biggest hospital, Al-Shifa, while the hospital’s director said a strike on the key health facility on Friday killed 13 people.
In a BBC interview, French President Emmanuel Macron called on Israel to stop bombing and killing civilians, saying “there is no reason for that and no legitimacy”.
3. In the UK, Home Secretary Suella Braverman remains under fire from all sides after her allegations of bias were disowned by Downing Street and criticised by the UK Police Federation.
The allegations of police bias, made by Braverman in The Times, followed pressure from senior Tories on Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley to ban a pro-Palestinian demonstration due to take place today.
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected take to the streets of London for the march, which coincides with Armistice Day.
4. Iceland has declared a state of emergency after a series of powerful earthquakes rocked the country’s southwestern Reykjanes peninsula, in what could be a precursor to a volcanic eruption.
In a statement, the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management said earthquakes “can become larger than those that have occurred and this series of events could lead to an eruption”.
The Icelandic Met Office said an eruption could take place “in several days”.
5. The union representing Irish nurses and midwives will engage with its members to consider taking industrial action as many organisations have been made aware that HSE management is considering extending its current recruitment freeze.
HSE could possibly be extending its recruitment freeze to all categories of employees in the system until the end of the year, the National Joint Council in the Irish Health Service learned yesterday.
6. State funding to the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has been suspended as Sport Ireland identified a possible breach of the terms of the FAI’s Memorandum of Understanding with the government.
The potential breach relates to payments made to the FAI CEO Jonathan Hill across 2022.
7. The couple whose bodies were found at their home on Thursday afternoon have been named by Gardaí as married couple Joe Collins and Claire Collins.
The scene, located at the couple’s home in the Burren village of Kilnaboy, Co Clare, remains preserved and technical examinations are ongoing.
8. Sinn Féin Vice President Michelle O’Neill told the party’s annual Ard Fheis conference that “the old Orange State” with a unionist majority is “long gone”.
In her keynote speech last night, O’Neill said the results of May’s assembly elections must be “respected” as she called for the restoration of power sharing in Northern Ireland.
9. RTÉ u-turned on their request to bring a note, detailing a meeting between the former Director General and Ryan Tubridy’s Agent, to the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in private.
It comes after PAC refused the broadcaster’s request to bring the note in private after an hour-long private session between the stakeholders of the inquiry.
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