Healing hands for Gaza: Irish healthcare pros' urgent call to action

Source: Irish Sun

DUBLIN, Ireland - Over 1,000 Irish healthcare workers have written to the Taoiseach, urging him to use his meeting with the U.S. President this weekend to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The Irish Healthcare Workers for Palestine (IHWP) have asked him, as Taoiseach, doctor, and human rights advocate, to firmly and unequivocally demand an immediate ceasefire and orchestrate adequate lifesaving aid for the people of Gaza.

On Friday, Leo Varadkar will hold bilateral talks with U.S. President Joe Biden, and he will meet him again on St Patrick's Day for the traditional shamrock ceremony in the White House.

IHWP is a multidisciplinary network of Irish healthcare professionals who advocate for Palestinian healthcare rights and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The group claims that Mr Varadkar is uniquely positioned to save lives and end the suffering.

The letter was signed by nearly 1,200 registered healthcare professionals from across Ireland and is addressed to all TDs.

Professor Veronica O'Keane, a retired consultant psychiatrist, said there was a strong sense among healthcare workers that they needed to help their colleagues in Gaza.

"This has inspired everybody. There's a huge healthcare movement internationally. I mean, the whole world is stunned, not just by the targeting but by the justification of the targeting of the healthcare system there," said Prof. O'Keane.

"As a psychiatrist, one of the issues we're deeply concerned about is the sort of extremism that the sort of trauma that's happening there can breed for the future. As the minutes pass, more and more people are starving, and we must take action."

Speaking in advance of his trip to the United States, Varadkar said that he would "raise the concerns of the Irish people on the shocking crisis in Gaza, reiterating our call for an immediate and sustainable ceasefire to facilitate a massive increase in the humanitarian aid that can reach desperate people and the immediate and unconditional release of the remaining hostages."