Ireland to give Palestine over $13 million in humanitarian aid

The Irish government announced Wednesday an immediate humanitarian aid package of 13 million euros ($13.7 million) to the Palestinians while calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The funds would nearly double Ireland’s aid budget to UN agencies supporting Palestinians, the government said, which was initially set at a total of 16 million euros for this year.

“This is a crisis that simply cannot wait,” foreign minister Michael Martin said in a statement, while calling on the EU “to step up now to provide whatever support they can”.

Reiterating a call by prime minister Leo Varadkar, Martin also called for the opening of a humanitarian corridor from Egypt to the Gaza Strip — which Israel announced Wednesday that it would allow.

Gazans have been facing dire shortages as the territory was effectively sealed off in the wake of the October 7 attacks by Hamas militants on Israeli communities and military posts.

Those attacks and the war they sparked have claimed around 1,400 lives in Israel and 3,478 in Gaza, according to officials on each side.