Taoiseach's Cork office vandalised and personal threats made
The window of the office in Turner's Cross in Cork was daubed with the words 'Zionist pawn". The words were etched in red paint.
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A spokesperson for the Taoiseach confirmed that this is the third such attack on the office on the southside of Cork city.
'I can confirm there was an act of vandalism on the constituency office last night, this is the third such attack.
The window of the office in Turner's Cross in Cork was daubed with the words 'Zionist pawn".
"Personal threats have also previously been sent to the office, warning the Taoiseach it will be made impossible for him to navigate in public spaces.
"This is a working office with constituency staff acting on a daily basis to support the community on various issues.'
The spokesperson added that those responsible for the 'criminal acts' and 'intimidatory and abusive threats are fundamentally anti-democratic".
"We believe the vast majority of people who are appalled by the situation in Gaza would have nothing to do with such actions.'
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At least 111 Palestinians, including 91 aid seekers, have been killed and 820 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past 24 hours, the Hamas-run Health Ministry says. The BBC has shown footage of humanitarian aid being airdropped into Gaza. Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun said on Thursday that Lebanese political parties need to seize the opportunity and hand over their weapons sooner rather than later. He said his country was determined to disarm Hezbollah, a day after the group's chief said those demanding its disarmament were serving Israeli goals. Syrian foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani said his country wants Russia 'by our side' and called for 'mutual respect' between the two nations following the overthrow of Syria's previous Moscow-backed government last year, AFP reports. Iran on Thursday described as 'malicious' fresh US sanctions targeting a shipping empire controlled by the son of a top political advisor to Iran's supreme leader, AFP reports. 1.49pm CEST 13:49 Here is an image coming to us over the wires of humanitarian aid being airdropped on Gaza by the Egyptian Air Force. 1.45pm CEST 13:45 The BBC has been showing footage of airdrops from Jordan and UAE taking place in Gaza. 1.44pm CEST 13:44 At least 111 Palestinians, including 91 aid seekers, have been killed and 820 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past 24 hours, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says. Israel's war on Gaza has killed 60,249 Palestinians and injured 147,089 since 7 October, 2023, the ministry said on Telegram. The total number of aid seekers killed since 27 May, when Israel introduced a new aid distribution mechanism, has reached 1,330, with more than 8,818 injured, the statement said. 1.30pm CEST 13:30 Donald Trump has posted on his Truth Social on the Gaza humanitarian crisis: The fastest way to end the Humanitarian Crises in Gaza is for Hamas to SURRENDER AND RELEASE THE HOSTAGES!!! Updated at 1.32pm CEST 1.12pm CEST 13:12 Here are some images coming to us over the wires. 12.47pm CEST 12:47 Germany's foreign minister Johann Wadephul said on Thursday talks on a two-state solution 'must begin now', warning Berlin would respond to 'unilateral steps', Reuters reports. 'A negotiated two-state solution remains the only path that can offer people on both sides a life in peace, security, and dignity,' he said in a statement issued shortly before his trip on Thursday to Israel and the Palestinian territories. 'For Germany, the recognition of a Palestinian state comes more at the end of that process. But such a process must begin now.' AFP reports that Wadephul said that the recent UN conference on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - boycotted by the US and Israel - showed that 'Israel is finding itself increasingly in the minority'. 12.16pm CEST 12:16 Reuters has reported on the desperate situation in Gaza. In a makeshift tent on a Gazan beach, three-month-old Muntaha's grandmother grinds up chickpeas into the tiniest granules she can to form a paste to feed the infant, knowing it will cause her to cry in pain, in a desperate race to keep the baby from starving. 'If the baby could speak, she would scream at us, asking what we are putting into her stomach,' her aunt, Abir Hamouda said. Muntaha grimaced and squirmed as her grandmother fed her the paste with a syringe. Muntaha's family is one of many in Gaza facing dire choices to try to feed babies, especially those below the age of six months who cannot process solid food. Infant formula is scarce after a plummet in aid access to Gaza. Many women cannot breastfeed due to malnourishment, while other babies are separated from their mothers due to displacement, injury or, in Muntaha's case, death. Her family says the baby's mother was hit by a bullet while pregnant, gave birth prematurely while unconscious in intensive care, and died a few weeks later. The director of the Shifa Hospital described such a case in a Facebook post on April 27, four days after Muntaha was born. 'I am terrified about the fate of the baby,' said her grandmother, Nemah Hamouda. 'We named her after her she can survive and live long, but we are so afraid, we hear children and adults die every day of hunger.' Muntaha now weighs about 3.5 kilograms, her family said, barely more than half of what a full-term baby her age would normally weigh. She suffers stomach problems like vomiting and diarrhoea after feeding. Health officials, aid workers and Gazan families told Reuters many families are feeding infants herbs and tea boiled in water, or grinding up bread or sesame. Humanitarian agencies also reported cases of parents boiling leaves in water, eating animal feed and grinding sand into flour.
