Kerry asked to light up as well-known figures join national campaign for Gaza

THREE weeks into its launch, the national campaign by Waterford-based group ‘Gaeil ar son Gaza’, to get people across Ireland to light candles on Wednesday, May 1, for the children of Gaza, is gathering pace, with support being expressed by well-known figures in public life.

Now Kerry is being asked to play its part and get involved in the campaign.

The group is asking people all over Ireland to light a candle at 9.30pm, just after sunset, in memory of every child that has been killed by Israel in Gaza.

Conservative figures show that more than 14,000 children have now been killed, with thousands more buried alive under the rubble. Middle East Monitor puts the number of children injured at 30,000, many of whom have had limbs amputated without anaesthetic due to the Israeli blockade on medical aid. Some 17,000 children are now believed to be orphaned due to their parents being killed in the relentless onslaught.

A spokesperson for ‘Gaeil ar son Gaza said: “Due to the block being placed by Israel on food and water supplies to the population of Gaza, UNICEF Executive Director, Catherine Russell, has said that one out of every three children under the age of two is now suffering from malnutrition, and children’s hospital wards are eerily silent due to children not having the energy to even cry.

“One of the charitable organisations who will be faced with the monumental task of supporting those children who survive this massacre will be the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.

“We are asking people to give any donation they can afford to our GoFundMe page and all money collected will go directly to the PCRF,” they added.

On May 1, whether people light their candle at home with family or meet up at their local playground (which many are planning to do as a symbolic gesture), ‘Gaeil ar son Gaza’ is asking them to take a photograph or short video and post it on their own social media, then share with them on their accounts.

The organisers say that tens of thousands of candles lighting together across the country will form a powerful gesture of solidarity with the devastated people of Palestine and will show that Ireland rejects the horror of death and starvation being inflicted by Israel on Palestinian children.

Among the latest personalities to support this initiative is Mary Manning, who played her part in protesting against the apartheid system in South Africa by leading the Dunnes Stores strikers in Henry Sreet, Dublin, during the 1980s, when workers there refused to handle South African goods.

Many celebrities, musicians, writers and political figures have endorsed the group’s campaign to date, such as singer Damien Dempsey, MEPs Mick Wallace and Clare Daly, Senator Frances Black, authors and journalists such as Betty Purcell and Rosita Sweetman, The Wolfe Tones, rap-group Kneecap, singer John Spillane, Jimmy Crowley and many, many more.

‘Gaeil ar son Gaza’ can be found on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, and a simple Google search of the words “Go Fund Me candles for Gaza” will allow you to find their fundraising page.