It is Hamas' fault that people in Gaza are starving, the Israeli Ambassador to Ireland has said.
Yesterday, a UN-backed study concluded that the territory is at "critical risk" of famine and that Gazans face "extreme levels of food insecurity" amid an Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has described the situation as “quite shocking” and said Israel’s actions “must be considered a war crime”.
On The Pat Kenny Show, Ambassador Dana Erlich rejected any characterisation of the Israeli Defence Forces’ actions as a ‘siege’ and said Hamas is ‘abusing’ the aid that has previously been sent to them.
“What we are doing is limiting humanitarian aid that goes through Israel because that aid is being abused by Hamas,” she said.
“There’s still stockpiles of humanitarian aid in Gaza and we’ve seen it all along throughout the two months that we had the ceasefire, we’ve seen hundreds and thousands of tons in trucks that went in.
“And we’ve seen the ongoing abuse by Hamas; if they’re preventing the humanitarian aid from getting where it really needs, if it’s expiring - that needs to stop.
“More and more countries understand that Hamas needs to be put out of that equation.
“Hamas cannot be held accountable for their people because they abuse the aid and the human lives of their people.”
🚨Report: The entire Gaza Strip is at risk of famine.
Without immediate action, the critical lack of supplies in Gaza will push food insecurity, acute malnutrition and mortality levels past the famine thresholds within the next 5 months.
Learn more: https://t.co/9IhJXWmhsn pic.twitter.com/VStnq9XO0C
— World Food Programme (@WFP) May 12, 2025
Ms Erlich added that Hamas is “starving its people” and urged the international community to work together to remove the “cynical, brutal regime” from power.
“We know there are still stockpiles of food and different supplies in Gaza that Hamas is preventing its own people [from eating],” she said.
“We all need to work together in order to pressure Hamas, in order to stop it.
“If we talk about coexistence, if we talk about any sort of future, that future needs to see the Palestinian people of Gaza being liberated from Hamas.”
Displaced Palestinians flee from Shijaiyah in Gaza in April after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders in the area. Picture by: Jehad Alshrafi.In recent weeks, there have been large protests in Gaza by opponents of Hamas - despite the risk of reprisals.
Ms Erlich continued that she remains “puzzled” that Hamas’ human rights’ violations have not brought the people of Ireland out onto the streets to protest.
“We published research… about the methods of Hamas abusing their own population,” she said.
“I didn’t see any echoes to that in the Irish media, I didn’t see any comments on that from Irish leaders.
“So, where is the criticism against the terrorist organisation that is holding its population captive?”
Israel's hostages
Yesterday, Israeli hostage Edan Alexander was released from Hamas and reunited with his family after nearly 600 days in captivity.
The 21-year-old was serving in the IDF when he was captured by Hamas on October 7th and kidnapped into Gaza.
There’s nothing stronger than a family’s embrace 💙
Welcome home Edan!
📸 @IDF pic.twitter.com/Ptr4ncWP5d
— Israel ישראל (@Israel) May 12, 2025
Ms Erlich said everyone in Israel was “very much relieved” to see him return home.
“There are still 58 hostages that still need to come back,” she said.
“What the release showed us is that international pressure works and the international community - led by the United States - need to continue [to put] pressure on Hamas.
“Which means he was released without conditions and without a horrible, cynical spectacle like [during] the previous releases.
“So, it is possible and this is something that we now see very obviously; so, we call for the immediate release of the 58 remaining hostages.”
Main image: Israel Ambassador Dana Erlich. Image: Newstalk
