Around 1,000 people have taken part in a demonstration for Palestine in Dublin city centre, marching from the Department of Foreign Affairs to the American Embassy in Ballsbridge.
The protestors marched from the Department of Foreign Affairs to the American Embassy in Ballsbridge.
They are protesting against proposals by US President Donald Trump that millions of Gazans be moved out of the territory to facilitate reconstruction under US authority.
They are calling on the Irish Government to pass the Occupied Territories Bill, which aims to ban trade between Ireland and Israel's illegal settlements on Palestinian land.
The protesters also called on the Government not to attend St Patrick's Day ceremonies at the White House this year.
Government accused of breaking election promises
The Government parties have also been accused of breaking their election promises at the rally.
Betty Purcell of the 'Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign' said: "This Thursday, the Irish Government voted to stop the occupied territories bill.
"This was in direct contravention of a promise they made to the Irish people in the election.
"They said they would pass it, and then when it came to us, they voted against once the election was behind them."
The Government has said further amendments are needed before the Occupied Territories Bill could be passed into law.
However, Ms Purcell told the crowd of around 1,000 people: "They're refusing to pass the illegal Israeli settlements divestment bill, a clear move that could be made on the state's investment strategy, and it's refusing to pass the independent Senator's arms embargo bill, which would stop the use of our airports and airspace to deliver munitions to the savage Israeli state.
"We want to see serious sanctions imposed on Israel."
"These three bills are ready to go and could be implemented with urgency if the Government wished to do so."
People Before Profit-Solidarity TDs Richard Boyd Barrett and Ruth Coppinger and Senator Chris Andrews of Sinn Féin were among those attending.
Deputy Boyd Barrett told RTÉ News: "We want to see serious sanctions imposed on Israel.
"We have obligations under the Genocide Convention to impose sanctions on this regime that is guilty of genocide and now with a threat of ethnic cleansing, we also want the Irish Government to boycott the meeting with Donald Trump in the White House.
"It would be absolutely outrageous for the Taoiseach to share Ireland's National Day with a president that is threatening the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
"It really would be a betrayal of our own history of opposition to colonialism, which is so tied up with our identity, for us to betray that by meeting with Trump, a man who's threatening ethnic cleansing of Palestinians."
Healthcare workers express solidarity with counterparts in Gaza
'Irish Healthcare Workers for Palestine' were among the groups at the rally.
Dr Angela Skuce said they were there in solidarity with their counterparts in Gaza and she was highlighting the case of a Gaza based paediatrician Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, who has been detained by Israel for more than a month.
"He's a health care worker, he's a doctor, and his only crime was that he stayed with his patients when Israel didn't want him to.
"So we're all healthcare workers here today, protesting against this, this inhumane treatment of healthcare workers and calling for international law to be upheld.
"Healthcare is sacrosanct where we're supposed to be allowed to treat people who are sick and injured, and we're standing in solidarity with our colleagues in Gaza who are being punished simply for doing what they're supposed to do."
Aisling Snow of the group 'Pals for Palestine' said she wanted to highlight that journalists reporting from Israel were doing so subject to military censorship.
She said Palestinian media workers getting the news out of Gaza while their international colleagues are denied access have been targeted.
"As far as we are aware, 217, at least, media workers in Gaza have been killed since October 2023.
"Israel hasn't been allowing any foreign journalists into Gaza, so the world has been relying on local journalists and citizen journalists to get the word out to us about the truth on the ground.
"Unfortunately, a lot of them have been directly targeted by the Israeli forces using Israeli military and American weaponry, and we've lost over 200 of those people who've been working diligently on the ground to try and inform the world of what's happening."
