TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR called for a humanitarian ceasefire at an international conference on humanitarian aid for Gaza and noted that “some of Israel’s closest allies like the United States are now calling for that”.
Varadkar was speaking following the conclusion of a hurriedly put together aid conference in Palais de l’Elysée in Paris.
The conference heard from the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority Mohammad Shtayyeh, who asked the conference: “How many Palestinians have to be killed before the war stops?
He added: “Is killing six children per hour sufficient? Is killing four women per hour sufficient? This is an excess, this is greater than the number of people killed in Ukraine in 623 days.”
Fighting has raged in the region since gunmen from the Islamist group Hamas poured over the Gaza border with Israel and, according to Israeli officials, killed 1,400 people and seized about 240 hostages in the worst attack in the country’s history.
Israel retaliated with an aerial bombing and ground offensive that the health ministry in the Gaza Strip says has killed more than 10,500 people, many of them children.
Speaking following the conference, Varadkar said it was “very useful” that a number of heads of state were there, as well as President of the European Council Charles Michel and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
However, Varadkar said: “We need to see greater development of a more unified European position.
“We saw the strength of the European Union when we came together on Ukraine, we haven’t come together in the same way when it comes to this conflict and I think we need to try and develop a much more solid European position.”
He added that the EU “has come to a position where we’re calling for humanitarian pauses”.
However, no Israeli delegation attended the conference.
Varadkar told reporters that he hopes Israel “will give consideration to a humanitarian ceasefire or a humanitarian pause”.
He added that “some of its closest allies like the United States are now calling for that and working towards that because I just don’t see an alternative”.
“At some stage this fighting is going to have to stop and the sooner it stops, the better,” said Varadkar.
“That doesn’t prevent Israel from continuing to pursue the Hamas terrorists that attacked it but what’s happening now at the moment, as I think more and more people are coming to recognise, is disproportionate.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, who hosted the conference, urged nations to “work towards a ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“In the immediate term, we need to work on protecting civilians. To do that, we need a humanitarian pause very quickly and we must work towards a ceasefire,” Macron told delegates in Paris this morning.
In the hours following the conference, the United States announced Israel had agreed to a daily four-hour military halt in northern Gaza to allow civilians out.
The limited pauses build on north-south “evacuation corridors” that the Israeli army had promised would remain safe and which were used by tens of thousands to flee in recent days.
Arab leaders also attended the conference, with Varadkar telling reporters that he was able to hold bilateral meetings with the Prime Minister of Palestine, the foreign minister of Egypt, and the Prince of Jordan.
Varadkar said this was a “real chance to talk about Irish citizens who are in Gaza” as well as eight-year-old Emily Hand, who is thought to be held hostage in Gaza by Hamas.
He said these meetings were helpful in “seeking their support for our efforts to secure their release”.
And while he declined to “get into details because that wouldn’t help what we’re trying to achieve”, Varadkar told reports that “it was definitely useful to talk to Egypt and Jordan in particular”.
Varadkar also said he was “really struck” by meetings with “agencies who are working on the ground in Gaza”, such as the Red Cross, the World Health Organisation and Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières).
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar the last to arrive at the Palais de l'Elysée for an international conference on humanitarian aid for Gaza. @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/JV4nVBtOls
— Diarmuid Pepper (@Diarmuid_9) November 9, 2023
In a statement to The Journal, Isabel Simpson, executive director of Médecins Sans Frontières Ireland, said that the health infrastructure in Gaza is in a state of collapse.
“Surgeons and medics are working nonstop in severely overcrowded hospitals.
“Unless a ceasefire is immediately implemented, obtaining continuous and unhindered access to people across Gaza, to supply hospitals with much needed medical aid and to enable medical teams to rotate in and out, will remain a major challenge,” said Simpson.
She said delivery of humanitarian aid, particularly to the North of the Gaza Strip, remains extremely challenging and dangerous.
“Many of our MSF Palestinian colleagues continue to work tirelessly in support of the local health authorities across Gaza, where people with horrific wounds and severe burns are flooding the hospitals as a result of the continuous bombing,” said Simpson.
“We insist that an immediate ceasefire is implemented.”
Reflecting on these meetings with aid agencies, Varadkar said: “This is a very serious humanitarian situation in Gaza, over 10,000 people dead but they believe that the situation is going to deteriorate significantly.
“As water and sanitation fails, we could see thousands of people dying every day and there is a real fear that this crisis will spread to the West Bank, and perhaps to Lebanon too.”
Varadkar also remarked that the conference “emphasised the need for three things”.
“So we have to have a humanitarian ceasefire, so hostages can be released, foreign citizens can get out and crucially that humanitarian aid can get into Gaza and those who provide it are safe and protected.”
Varadkar added that the view coming from the conference was that “this humanitarian crisis needs a humanitarian solution”.
“10,000 dead already, the risk of many more thousands of people dying, many of them children, and the risk of escalation to other parts of the region.
“There is a real sense that the priority now has to be on a humanitarian response, a humanitarian ceasefire, so that hostages can be freed and foreign citizens can leave and so that we can get humanitarian aid into Gaza and safely.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the conference that the Commission has quadrupled humanitarian aid to Gaza up to €100 million in the run up to the conference.
However, she acknowledged that aid cargos reaching Gaza through Rafah crossing “remain too small to meet humanitarian needs”.
“We need to look at additional routes, and this is why we work very closely with the president of Cyprus to establish a maritime corridor,” said von der Leyen.
The Greek delegation told the conference that it would help with maritime efforts if the safety of those involved could be guaranteed by all parties.
When asked about the maritime efforts, Varadkar said “it’s definitely an idea that’s worthy of consideration”.
He also welcomed “the fact that the President of Cyprus is here to outline those proposals”.
However, Varadkar said: “What I did hear back from a lot of people and a very, very strong view, is that establishing a new seaport and getting ships in could take a long time.
“There are border crossings that could be opened, there are border crossings with Israel that are eight lanes wide, and they could be open.
“If the objective is to relieve the suffering of people in Gaza, it’s not building a new ports or a sea crossing in a few weeks or a few months time, it’s immediately opening those multi-lane crossings that could be opened.”
Varadkar added that the crossing into Egypt, the Rafah crossing, is a very small crossing.
“Almost only one truck can go through at a time, whereas the other crossings into Israel are much wider, and they could potentially be opened and that could perhaps be done under UN or Israeli supervision.”
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