2015-08-27 17:03:00

Trocaire calls for end to Israel’s Gaza blockade


(Vatican Radio)  The Irish Catholic development agency Trocaire was among a group of charities calling for world leaders to press Israel to end immediately its blockade on the Gaza strip.  A total of 35 international aid agencies have signed the petition that was released on the anniversary of the ceasefire between the Israeli government and Palestinian armed groups that ended 50 days of conflict in 2014. The war in Gaza saw over 19,000 homes destroyed and left 100,000 people homeless.  A year later, as a result of Israel’s severe restrictions on importing building materials into Gaza, not a single home has been fully rebuilt yet. Gary Walsh is Trocaire’s Programme officer for the Occupied Palestinian territories and Israel and he spoke to Susy Hodges.

Listen to the full interview with Garry Walsh of Trocaire who took the above photo of the destruction in Gaza during a past visit to the territory: 

“No illusions”

Walsh says they are not underestimating the difficulties of persuading Israel to lift its blockade against Gaza in the near future.  “We’re under no illusions that the blockade is going to be ended very soon”, he warns but adds that despite this “very challenging situation” they still hope that if world leaders were to speak with a “united voice” towards Israel about the urgent need to lift the blockade, the present stalemate in Gaza could be overcome. 

“Not a single house fully rebuilt”

Walsh describes as “very shocking” the fact that a year after the end of the conflict in Gaza “not a single house in the strip has been fully rebuilt.”  He has visited the territory twice since the end of the war in 2014 and said he “witnessed at first hand" the scale of the destruction in Gaza where “entire neighbourhoods lie in ruins." He compares it to the devastation in many European cities after extensive bombardments during the Second World War.  

Many Gazans “expect another war"

He told us that during those two visits he met many Gazans “who are very despairing” after three wars with Israel during the past seven years and said “a lot of people there are expecting another war in the future” unless something changes in the status quo.  Among the people Walsh met in Gaza were families who had lost loved ones in the war and he also spoke about a family he visited who were still living in their half destroyed home (half of it was destroyed by a missile strike) and he pointed out that there were many other families like them in the territory.  “There are children living and sleeping in the rubble of their homes,” Walsh said, describing this situation as "intolerable." 








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