Newry Mourne & Down ‘will continue to stand with Palestine’: Cathal King

He also said that the people of Newry Mourne & Down would continue to “stand with Palestine”.

The Sinn Féin councillor warned: “With the majority of residents of Gaza having fled to Rafah in response to Israeli attacks on civilian areas elsewhere in the strip, Israel has now ordered a partial evacuation of Rafah and begun airstrikes on the city ahead of an expected major ground invasion.

“A military invasion of Rafah by the Israel would take an already dire situation to catastrophic new levels.

“We know what awaits those 1.4 million people should Israel invade Rafah – the deliberate targeting of journalists and humanitarian workers, and the annihilation of what housing stock, healthcare facilities, cultural centres and educational institutions remain.

"We will witness mass civilian casualties, half of which we can expect to be children”.

He concluded, “Recent events have shown that Israel is not interested in a peace settlement. That is because the international community has failed to force them to do so. That must change now before we see a further slaughter of innocent Palestinians.

“The vast majority of the people of Newry Mourne & Down will not stop talking about Palestine. We will continue to do what communities all over the world are doing, we will stand with Palestine.

“Our message to the world’s leaders is clear: End the funding of the Israeli war machine, end the genocide, and end the occupation of Palestine”.