The 72-page report was published as Israel launched a ground offensive
in Gaza City after weeks of intense bombardment in and around the
territory’s largest urban centre, where about 1 million people have been

Death rates have become unreliable due to massacres of both journalists
and health workers, but it is estimated that a hundred innocent
civilians are being killed in Gaza on a daily basis, with half of those
killed being women and children, with the full death toll now in six
figures. Deliberate starvation continues, while every residential tower
is being systematically destroyed.

Speaking at the National Ploughing Championships, Mr Higgins described
the UN document as “very, very important”.

“I believe myself that the kind of actions that are necessary now are
the exclusion of those who are practising genocide, and those who are
supporting genocide with armaments,” he said.

“We must look at their exclusion from the United Nations itself, and we
should have no hesitation any longer in relation to ending trade with
people who are inflicting this on our fellow human beings.”

President Higgins said some of the EU’s strongest members are “deciding
to stay silent in watching emaciated children in what is a human,
manmade, really atrocious infliction on people” in Gaza.

He said he believes the “EU will find it extraordinarily difficult to
ever be a union in any sense” when these members are staying silent.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin described the report as “definitive and
significant” – but still failed to announce any sanctions on Israel.

Speaking at a Fianna Fáil ‘think-in’ in County Cork, he said it was
“very clear genocide is taking place” in Gaza.

“And the atrocity carries on – the Israel defence minister this morning
declared that ‘Gaza City is burning’ – what kind of mentality is
informing Israeli government behaviour?

He urged other international leaders to raise the pressure on Israel to
“stop this carnage” and the “slaughter of civilians”.

“In my view, the US, Europe and wider world have to raise the pressure
to stop this carnage and the slaughter of civilians.”

There has been little response from the US or the EU to the report, and
no indication that the flow of weapons to the genocidal Netanyahu regime

Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who was explicitly named in the report
as having incited the annihilation of Palestinians, was shockingly
welcomed to Downing Street by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on
Tuesday. Starmer and his government refuse to acknowledge the genocide
and continue to defend the continuing arms sales to Israel and the
provision of RAF air support for the slaughter.

US President Donald Trump has also ignored the report, while the EU has
shown itself to be hopelessly divided. Spain has courageously issued
sanctions, exclusion orders and a ban on arms exports to Israel, but
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has defended the genocide even as he
sobbed during a speech this week when referring to the “radical evil” of
the Nazi Holocaust.

For her part, EU Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen has condemned the
Israeli actions and suggested possible sanctions, but Sinn Féin’s MEP
Lynn Boylan said “it simply doesn’t go far enough”. She asked why it
had “taken so long” to reach this point.

“For over 22 months, we have had Israel’s genocide live-streamed to us,
but the EU chose to sit on its hands until now,” she said, adding: “They
have been complicit in this genocide for too long. It’s now time to take
a stand and ensure Israel is held to account for their crimes against

Meanwhile, the civilian relief effort, the Global Sumud Flotilla,
comprising dozens of vessels, continues to sail towards the besieged
enclave, with organisers saying they aim to open a corridor to Gaza to
end the imposed famine and deliver humanitarian aid.

On Tuesday, foreign ministers from 16 countries with nationals taking
part in the flotilla, including Ireland, released a statement warning
that “any violation of international law and human rights of the
participants in the flotilla, including attacks against the vessels in
international waters or illegal detention, will lead to accountability”.

Speaking from one of the boats, Irish activist Catríona Graham said she
was taking part because government inaction “means we feel complicit and
without another choice”.

“The time for accountability has long since passed … We sail because
our governments haven’t,” she said.