Past and present Tyrone GAA figures are organising an event in the first weekend of August, to mark ‘300 days of genocide’ in Palestine.
The ‘Tyrone Gaels Against Genocide’ group will be hosting a talk in the Garvaghey Centre – the county’s training grounds – on Saturday, August 3 at 8pm.
A poster for the initiative states: “This meeting will give Gaels in Tyrone an opportunity to show their solidarity with the people of Palestine.
“Don’t turn a blind eye to what is happening, do your bit.
“Play your part. We encourage all clubs to be represented on the night.”
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Former All-Ireland champion and Red Hands legend Peter Canavan is one of 26 current and former inter-county Gaelic footballers to sign a letter calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
In June, the group backed a protest march through Belfast in a ‘Gaels Against Genocide’ parade.
Ex-players Eugene McKenna, Chris Lawn and Pascal Canavan – Peter’s brother – are also participating members of the activism campaign.
Alongside them, Tyrone’s current crop of male athletes – including Paudie Hampsey, Niall Devlin and Tiarnan Quinn – have also shown solidarity with Palestinian civilians.
Members of the inter-county women’s team are too part of the movement, and in a previous statement, the Tyrone players all made a joint statement which reads: “Every man woman and child have a natural sense of justice.
“We instinctively know when something is wrong.
“In this case, the evidence is there for all to see.
“Every time we lift our phones we see, hear, and read about it.”
Tyrone Peter Canavan and his son Darragh Canavan celebrate
Credit: INPHO/James Crombie
On Friday, a United Nations court said that Israel’s military assault on Palestine is “unlawful” and called for an end to the violence.
Israel’s “abuse of its status as the occupying power” renders its “presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful,” the International Court of Justice said, saying its presence must be ended as “rapidly as possible.”.
It is estimated that over 37,000 Palestinians – many of them women and children – have been killed since last October, when Israel responded to an attack by proscribed terrorist group Hamas.
At a music festival on October 7, the Hamas attacks killed 1,400 people in Israel and saw 229 people taken hostage.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly denounced the UN court’s ruling on Friday, saying the aforementioned territories are part of the Jewish people’s historic “homeland”.