ABOUT 700 people attended events in Dublin and Galway last night to show their solidarity with those affected by the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
About 500 people attended a candlelight vigil in central Dublin where calls were made for a ceasefire and for the Government to take a stronger stance in criticising Israel's military advances on Gaza.
Those messages were echoed by hundreds of people who attended a peace march in Galway.
Colm O'Gorman of Amnesty International, which organised the Dublin vigil, said he hoped the event would demonstrate the human impact of the conflict in which some 800 people have died.
He called for a ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid to be delivered into Gaza and said Israel's "flouting" of a draft UN resolution showed it was "paying little attention to international opinion".
Eoin Murray of Trócaire said the charity's partners in Gaza are finding it difficult to deliver aid to those affected by the conflict and that medical resources and hospitals in Gaza are "overstretched".
Shareen Sabbagh, a Palestinian woman living in Dublin, said she would relay the messages of support to members of her family, whom she said were doing their best to survive.
"They have no electricity for days. They live but they do not feel secure. When they sleep they do not know if they will be awake again . . . This siege is really difficult and frustrating for us."
In Galway Treasa Ní Cheannabháin of the Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign criticised the US government for abstaining in a vote on a draft UN resolution calling for a ceasefire. She said the Government should break the "wall of silence" by calling off diplomatic and economic ties with Israel.