Over 200 people have staged a rally at Shannon Airport to protest against the US military use of Irish airspace and to stop what they say is the transportation of weapons destined for Israel.
The rally was organised by the Ireland-Palestinian Solidarity Campaign together with Shannonwatch.
"Failing the stopping of American military going through, at the very minimum, the Government should be inspecting the planes to see what's on them and to ensure they're not carrying weapons," said Zoë Lawlor, Chairperson of the IPSC.
"We also are demanding sanctions from the government on Israel. I mean, the situation now is catastrophic. They're going to occupy Gaza City, intensifying the genocide. It's going to be even more bloody.
"They're deliberately starving people to death, and it is because of the impunity that all states, including Ireland, have granted to Israel that we've gotten to this stage.
"We want the full implementation of the Occupied Territories Bill with services included, and we want the Central Bank to stop regulating Israel's war bond."
'Waiting for your own death'
Tamara Nijim is a Palestinian woman living in Ireland for the past two years. She has been joined by her sister Marah, whom she managed to here on a scholarship three months ago.
Marah addressed the rally on the situation she fled from.
"All I can say is it's a nightmare that is not stopping. It's a nightmare we're not walking from it. It's waiting for your own death by seconds, waiting to see yourself as an orphan, waiting to see your home bombed, waiting to lose your friends, waiting to be killed.
"That's what I can say. It's worse than a movie. It's the worst thing ever. It's a war. It's genocide."
Tamara says it's very difficult for them to leave family behind in Gaza. She moved here one month before the war to finish her studies.
"We're here at Shannon today because our families are really, really struggling. They're starving and now they can die any minute, and it's very, very difficult.
"We're here to object in what is going on. And because this is genocide going in there and we try to stop as much as we can the things that are happening there. Because any rocket, any bomb that could pass, could be the reason for a family death in a couple of seconds, a couple of minutes"
Tamara says there is a price for speaking out but she and her sister cannot stand by and say nothing
"We're here to talk about what's going on but it's still very difficult, because there's a price for speaking up about the situation, because once you speak up, your name goes all over the internet.
"You might also lose your family, but we all have something to lose, and we have to speak for the people of Palestine. We should not be also only thinking about our only family, because everybody in Palestine is our family."
Kevin Cunningham joined the protest from Acaill in Mayo.
"I'm here to show my solidarity with the people of Palestine. We all really share the same DNA. We've all suffered. Our nation has suffered the same as they're suffering now," he said.
"Starvation is not a way to solve any problem, and I'm disgusted with what is happening. Personally, it's an honour to be here today.
"I'm not a powerful person. I don't own an army or anything like that. I can come and be here in solidarity. That's all I can do," he added.
Calls for new Garda Commissioner to act
John Lannon from Shannonwatch called for action from the new commissioner.
"We certainly hope the incoming Commissioner will do better than the previous ones. For the last 25 years, we've been calling on the gardaí to do their job, to inspect military planes and military contracted planes coming through Shannon Airport," he said.
"The matter is now more serious than ever, given the genocide that's happening in Gaza. We need to ensure that we're not complicit in that genocide by allowing weapons, or by allowing any other support come through Shannon airport or indeed to any Irish airspace.
"There needs to be a process to ensure that we are not allowing weapons to go through Irish airspace to Israel."
Niamh MacNamara is part of the Global Movement to Gaza and previously took part in a march to Cairo.
"In June, we went to Egypt and we attempted to march onto the Rafah crossing to demand it be opened as a humanitarian aid corridor.
"We were stopped, quite brutally stopped, in some cases. And as a result of that, the movement has now evolved into not just a march, but a movement," she said.
Plans are now underway to mobilise a flotilla of boats to Gaza in September.
"We are now working with other organizations such as the Maghreb Sumud Flotilla, they're from Malaysia, and the Freedom Flotilla, who have been sending both to Gaza to Palestine for decades and the convoy from Tunisia, who also took part in the march to Gaza as a separate movement.
"But as a result of that mass mobilization, we've all come together now, and we are planning an action in September called the Global Sumud Flotilla. That is actually the largest civilian mobilization of boats.
"We were going to send a fleet of boats to Gaza in September to open up a humanitarian aid corridor. We want to put as much pressure as possible on the governments of the world and the occupation forces to say that starvation, this hell, this genocide, has to end, and the people of the world are with Palestine, we won't stop until it's over, and that's the main aim," she added.
