{"id":1224,"date":"2025-05-29T09:50:46","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T09:50:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/?p=1224"},"modified":"2025-05-29T09:50:46","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T09:50:46","slug":"statement-by-president-higgins-on-latest-situation-in-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/statement-by-president-higgins-on-latest-situation-in-gaza\/","title":{"rendered":"Statement by President Higgins on latest situation in Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speaking following an award ceremony at the Irish Development Education Association (IDEA) Conference<\/strong> in the Grand Hotel Malahide<\/strong>, where he was the inaugural recipient of the Global Voice for Humanity Award<\/strong>, President Michael D. Higgins<\/strong> said:<\/p>\n

\n

<\/u><\/u><\/u>\u201cWith famine imminent in Gaza, immediate multilateral action and immediate recovery of the aid distribution system must be prioritised by the international community.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/u><\/u><\/u>I welcome the motion agreed in D\u00e1il \u00c9ireann today, mandating the Government to call for an Emergency Special Session of the UN General Assembly where Ireland would call for immediate collective measures to address the horrific situation in Gaza.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/u><\/u><\/u>This is an approach which I have previously advocated, including in my keynote address at the 2025 National Famine Commemoration earlier this month.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/u><\/u><\/u>We are at a critical moment. The Commissioner General of UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini has warned that the \u2019clock is ticking towards famine\u2019 and that the new aid distribution model in Gaza is \u2018a waste of resources and a distraction from atrocities\u2019 when there is already an aid distribution system that is fit for purpose.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/u><\/u><\/u>UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, has likewise urged the UN Security Council to take concrete steps to uphold international law and protect civilians, calling for unimpeded humanitarian access, respect for UN personnel and facilities, and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/u><\/u><\/u>No member of the international community can avert its gaze. The urgency of providing clean water, medicine and food cannot be delayed by political disagreements on what might be long drawn out legislative processes, which would mean aid arriving too late for much of the population. Aid deliveries must move into Gaza now and at scale. That is what a genuine humanitarian response calls for.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/u><\/u><\/u>Ireland has rightly taken a leading position in calling for immediate measures to be taken to support the starving people of Gaza, but we must insist on a response.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/u><\/u><\/u>There is a collective moral obligation on all countries, and at EU level, to follow this lead and to use their influence to bring this about.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Speaking following an award ceremony at the Irish Development Education Association (IDEA) Conference in the Grand Hotel Malahide, where he was the inaugural recipient of the Global Voice for Humanity Award, President Michael D. Higgins said: \u201cWith famine imminent in Gaza, immediate multilateral action and immediate recovery of the aid distribution system must be prioritised…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gaza","category-latest-news","category-10","category-3","description-off"],"yoast_head":"\nStatement by President Higgins on latest situation in Gaza - Diplomat.ie<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/statement-by-president-higgins-on-latest-situation-in-gaza\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Statement by President Higgins on latest situation in Gaza - Diplomat.ie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Speaking following an award ceremony at the Irish Development Education Association (IDEA) Conference in the Grand Hotel Malahide, where he was the inaugural recipient of the Global Voice for Humanity Award, President Michael D. Higgins said: \u201cWith famine imminent in Gaza, immediate multilateral action and immediate recovery of the aid distribution system must be prioritised…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/statement-by-president-higgins-on-latest-situation-in-gaza\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Diplomat.ie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-29T09:50:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/diplomat.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sddefault-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"423\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"No1Diplomat\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"No1Diplomat\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/statement-by-president-higgins-on-latest-situation-in-gaza\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/statement-by-president-higgins-on-latest-situation-in-gaza\/\",\"name\":\"Statement by President Higgins on latest situation in Gaza - Diplomat.ie\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/statement-by-president-higgins-on-latest-situation-in-gaza\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/statement-by-president-higgins-on-latest-situation-in-gaza\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sddefault-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-29T09:50:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/d749373102f61a4fa79486b27250a9b0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/statement-by-president-higgins-on-latest-situation-in-gaza\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/statement-by-president-higgins-on-latest-situation-in-gaza\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/statement-by-president-higgins-on-latest-situation-in-gaza\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sddefault-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sddefault-1.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":423},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/statement-by-president-higgins-on-latest-situation-in-gaza\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Statement by President Higgins on latest situation in Gaza\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/\",\"name\":\"Diplomat.ie\",\"description\":\"Ireland's Diplomatic News Site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/d749373102f61a4fa79486b27250a9b0\",\"name\":\"No1Diplomat\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a33c05b239c97263fe073bc3902bb13adceb67fd301bcc257628f3ce3c62c6b2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a33c05b239c97263fe073bc3902bb13adceb67fd301bcc257628f3ce3c62c6b2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"No1Diplomat\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/diplomat.ie\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/author\/no1diplomat\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Statement by President Higgins on latest situation in Gaza - Diplomat.ie","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/statement-by-president-higgins-on-latest-situation-in-gaza\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Statement by President Higgins on latest situation in Gaza - Diplomat.ie","og_description":"Speaking following an award ceremony at the Irish Development Education Association (IDEA) Conference in the Grand Hotel Malahide, where he was the inaugural recipient of the Global Voice for Humanity Award, President Michael D. Higgins said: \u201cWith famine imminent in Gaza, immediate multilateral action and immediate recovery of the aid distribution system must be prioritised…","og_url":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/statement-by-president-higgins-on-latest-situation-in-gaza\/","og_site_name":"Diplomat.ie","article_published_time":"2025-05-29T09:50:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":423,"url":"http:\/\/diplomat.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sddefault-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"No1Diplomat","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"No1Diplomat","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/statement-by-president-higgins-on-latest-situation-in-gaza\/","url":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/statement-by-president-higgins-on-latest-situation-in-gaza\/","name":"Statement by President Higgins on latest situation in Gaza - Diplomat.ie","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/statement-by-president-higgins-on-latest-situation-in-gaza\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/statement-by-president-higgins-on-latest-situation-in-gaza\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sddefault-1.jpg","datePublished":"2025-05-29T09:50:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/d749373102f61a4fa79486b27250a9b0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/statement-by-president-higgins-on-latest-situation-in-gaza\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/statement-by-president-higgins-on-latest-situation-in-gaza\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/statement-by-president-higgins-on-latest-situation-in-gaza\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sddefault-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sddefault-1.jpg","width":640,"height":423},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/2025\/05\/29\/statement-by-president-higgins-on-latest-situation-in-gaza\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Statement by President Higgins on latest situation in Gaza"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/#website","url":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/","name":"Diplomat.ie","description":"Ireland's Diplomatic News Site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/d749373102f61a4fa79486b27250a9b0","name":"No1Diplomat","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a33c05b239c97263fe073bc3902bb13adceb67fd301bcc257628f3ce3c62c6b2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a33c05b239c97263fe073bc3902bb13adceb67fd301bcc257628f3ce3c62c6b2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"No1Diplomat"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/diplomat.ie"],"url":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/author\/no1diplomat\/"}]}},"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sddefault-1.jpg",640,423,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sddefault-1.jpg",640,423,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sddefault-1.jpg",640,423,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sddefault-1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sddefault-1-300x198.jpg",300,198,true],"large":["https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sddefault-1.jpg",640,423,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sddefault-1.jpg",640,423,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sddefault-1.jpg",640,423,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"No1Diplomat","author_link":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/author\/no1diplomat\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/category\/gaza\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Gaza<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/category\/latest-news\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Latest News<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Speaking following an award ceremony at the Irish Development Education Association (IDEA) Conference in the Grand Hotel Malahide, where he was the inaugural recipient of the Global Voice for Humanity Award, President Michael D. Higgins said: \u201cWith famine imminent in Gaza, immediate multilateral action and immediate recovery of the aid distribution system must be prioritised…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1224"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1227,"href":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1224\/revisions\/1227"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomat.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}