Israeli Moves Should Alarm Entire World: Irish President

The roads’ closure effectively separates Gaza’s north and south.

Such measures “should alarm the entire world,” Higgins said late Wednesday.

Pointing to broad agreement among UN members that recognizing a Palestinian state is essential for peace in the region, Higgins asked in a statement “where stands this commitment now” when the flotilla carrying aid for “those who are in desperate need is being prevented from achieving that humanitarian objective.”

Israeli naval forces attacked the international aid flotilla late Wednesday, detaining activists on board after it was less than 80 nautical miles (148 kilometers) from Gaza.

The International Committee for Breaking the Siege on Gaza (ICBSG) accused Israel of using violence against the activists, saying naval forces rammed one ship, deployed water cannons and forcibly boarded vessels while “brutally mistreating peaceful detainees from 50 countries around the world.”

Higgins said the activists’ safety and protection is a “concern for all of us and all of the nations from which the people come.”

“At the same time as this is occurring, the exit from northern Gaza towards the south is in danger of being blocked, leaving a civilian population who could not be more vulnerable to the mercy of endless bombing and the destruction of their homes,” he said.

Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee announced Wednesday on the US social media company X’s platform that the Netzarim Axis was closed to movement from the south to “gain operational control over the Netzarim Corridor” in northern Gaza.

He said the regime’s army also closed Al-Rasheed Street, a coastal road that links the north of the enclave to the south.

The government in Gaza described Israel's closure of the street, one of the busiest roads used by civilians in the Gaza Strip, as “arbitrary enforcement within the framework of genocide policies.”

“Put together with the now clearly recognized breaches of international law and the status of the International Committee of the Red Cross being forced to suspend operations in Gaza City to this civilian population, all of these events should alarm the entire world,” said Higgins, Anadolu Agency reported.

The Red Cross said Wednesday that it has suspended its operations in Gaza City and relocated staff to its offices in southern Gaza due to intensified military operations.

Israel has maintained a blockade on Gaza, home to nearly 2.4 million people, for nearly 18 years, and further tightened the siege in March when it closed border crossings and blocked food and medicine deliveries, pushing the enclave into famine.

The Israeli army has killed more than 66,100 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza since October 2023.

The UN and rights groups have repeatedly warned that the enclave is being rendered uninhabitable, with starvation and disease spreading rapidly.