The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has again called for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict in the Middle East and reiterates its support for the ICTU call for immediate enactment of the Occupied Territories Bill and the strictest adherence to the BDS principles.
The INMO supports the Irish Government and Uachtarán na hÉireann’s call for a reversal of the Israeli Government’s ban the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) from operating in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Additionally, as part of the Gaza Paediatric Care Initiative (GPCI) the INMO calls on the Irish government to intervene with relevant governments of Egypt and Israel to fast track the evacuation of children in need of medical assistance to Ireland as recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
INMO President Caroline Gourley said:
Members of the Irish nurses and midwives organisation strenuously object to the flagrant breaches of international humanitarian law by the deliberate targeting of healthcare settings and healthcare workers in the Middle East by the Israeli Defence forces.
Our fellow healthcare workers in the Middle East need immediate international intervention and assistance as they desperately try to provide life-saving care in an impossible situation.
The continued targeting of healthcare facilities and those who are trying to provide life-saving care is horrifying.
Nurses, midwives, and all healthcare workers must be able to work free from threats of violence. Anyone who targets nurses, midwives, and healthcare workers and their workplaces should face justice.
INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said:
The targeting and killing of patients, nurses, midwives and healthcare workers in a conflict zone is a clear breach of the Geneva Conventions and entirely unacceptable.
Our thoughts are with those who are trying their best to provide life-saving care in the most trying of circumstances in the Middle East.
The Irish government must now do all it can to ensure that we are upholding our commitments to the World Health Organisation by bringing medically vulnerable children and their carers to Ireland for life-saving care.