With community kitchens — one of the last remaining lifelines in Gaza — now threatened with closure, the world is witnessing a man-made famine unfolding in real time. Desperation has reached unspeakable levels. Mothers are boiling grass to feed their families. Children are suffering unbearable hunger, trauma, violence, and abandonment. Gaza’s hospitals, already crippled, are close to collapse, unable to function without essential medicines, vaccines, and equipment. Women, girls, and other vulnerable groups face escalating risks of gender-based violence. Stocks in aid warehouses are nearly gone. Palestinian organisations continue to seek to supply desperate communities through local markets, but they are facing eye-watering prices. Yet world leaders are distracted it seems, while the ethnic cleansing and likely genocide of Palestinians rages on. As the UN Secretary-General put it, Gaza is a killing field, and its civilians are trapped in an endless death loop. The weaponisation of aid, including withholding food, water, healthcare, and shelter, has led to a surge in preventable deaths and threatens the dignity and survival of Palestinians in Gaza. This is a preventable atrocity. And it does nothing to address the horror of the remaining hostages and their families. Meanwhile, Israeli forces have intensified military operations in the occupied West Bank, severely disrupting humanitarian aid delivery there. This includes demolishing Palestinian homes, forcibly displacing approximately 40,000 people, and destroying critical infrastructure. World leaders must demand an immediate end to the blockade, and tough action must be taken against Israel and its shredding of international law. Every hour of delay in restoring aid costs more lives. This brutal, illegal, and devastating occupation of Palestinian territory and its people must end. The Irish Government must also play its part; stop wavering, and honour its pre-election pledge to introduce the Occupied Territories Bill. This would show true leadership on one of the most devastating issues of our time. This is a moment of moral reckoning. A moment when the world must step up. Otherwise, history will not be kind. Karol Balfe, CEO ActionAid Ireland, Dublin Cork GPs condemn genocide of Palestinian people We the undersigned general practitioners of Cork, on April 29, 2025, wish to condemn the ongoing genocide being perpetrated on the Palestinian people by Israel, and call for the immediate expulsion of Israel from international medical organisations such as the World Health Organization and the World Medical Association. We demand that the Irish Medical Council, the Irish College of GPs, and the Irish colleges representing other specialties such as surgery, medicine, anaesthesiology, etc, echo this condemnation of Israel, and similarly call for its expulsion from the above organisations. Eugene Egan, Paul O’Keefe, Patrick Brady, Bob Townsend, Frank Hill, Nurua Zulifee, Jeremy Gibson, Patricia McMahon, Noelle O’Sullivan, Kate Marie Boyle, Adham Jaber, and Ken Harte, via email Move World Cup final to facilitate All-Irelands The GAA president Jarlath Burns has, this week, confirmed that the All-Ireland finals will continue to be played in July in 2026, with the hurling final to be played on July 19, the same day as the soccer World Cup final in America. In these circumstances, An Taoiseach should, at the first available opportunity, make a request to US president Donald Trump to have the date of the World Cup final moved. The ace Micheál Martin holds in making this ‘deal’ with Mr Trump, is his ability to deploy every ounce of Irish blarney and native cunning in convincing Keir Starmer to have the 2028 British Open played at Trump’s Turnberry golf course, which, it seems the US president is becoming obsessed about. Michael Gannon, Saint Thomas Sq, Kilkenny City