A Shantalla native is one of 1,000 activists, medics and war crime investigators to have set sail from Italy to deliver aid and challenge an Israeli naval blockade of Gaza.
Dr Margaret Connolly, who works as a GP in Sligo, is a younger sister of President Catherine Connolly.
She is a life-long humanitarian, active in the Palestinian solidarity movement, and told the Advertiser she is prepared to be captured by the Israeli military in protest against its blockade of Gaza, where the UN and EU last week estimated two years of bombardment has rewound development by 77 years.
Connolly set sail on a yacht last Sunday amongst 80 other vessels carrying cargos of essential foods, medicine and baby formula. The mission seeks to address the humanitarian crisis and famine currently unfolding in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking to the Advertiser via satellite link, she said she was fully prepared to be “abducted, kidnapped or imprisoned” by Israeli forces, which are blocking freedom of navigation across international waters in the Mediterranean Sea.
“We are trying to establish an humanitarian corridor to a territory of 2.2 million people that is six times smaller than Sligo.
“As a 67-year-old mother of three children, I can no longer stand-by and watch this disaster unfold in Gaza. As someone who grew up in Shantalla, close to creches, schools, a hospital and university, it breaks my heart to see the abomination of these places destroyed by a genocidal regime backed by the West,” she said.
“The people of Galway can pressurise their councillors, TDs and members of government to stop speaking out of two sides of their mouths. We can’t be presenting bowls of shamrock to a [US] government that provides [Israel] with $4 billion of [military] aid each year, when it could fund its own health system with that money. That is a very sick world.
“Ships are free to bring arms, so why not aid?”
The activist called on Galway Advertiser readers to lobby their representatives to enact the Occupied Territories Bill, prevent Irish airspace being used for the transit of arms, and seek the expulsion of Israel from the United Nations.
Dr Connolly refused to discuss what impact her familial relationship with a European head of state would have on her status if intercepted by the Israeli Sea Corps. She said all Irish citizens are entitled to consular assistance from the Irish government.
Margaret is one of nine surviving Connolly siblings of an original 14. Her late brothers, Michael and Thomas, were also medical doctors, in Sligo and Germany respectively, and one of her five children is a doctor in Tuam. Her clinic in Sligo Town is also the constituency office of her husband, independent socialist Councillor Declan Bree, a former Labour TD.
Last October, Israeli marines detained a number of high profile protestors at sea, including climate activist Greta Thunberg, in the first Sumud flotilla, and Galway poet Sarah Clancy.
Dr Connolly is travelling on a 40ft yacht with five other crew, including Cormac O’Daly from Dublin, and Westmeath native Louise McCormack, who is studying a PhD in University of Galway. Connolly is currently on her fifth day at sea, on a passage from Syracuse, Sicily, to the Port of Gaza, blockaded since 2007.
With participants from more than 100 countries, organisers of the second Sumud Flotilla say it is the largest civilian maritime initiative to attempt to reach Gaza, which has been under a near-continuous blockade for 18 years.
“I have joined the flotilla because we cannot stand by while millions of people are subjected to starvation and an ongoing siege,” said Dr Connolly. “This initiative is a powerful expression of international solidarity with the people of Gaza, who continue to endure immense hardship under blockade.
“Palestinian civil society has consistently called for a just resolution grounded in international law including an end to the occupation, equal rights, and a lasting political settlement that respects the rights and dignity of all.
“In Ireland, there is widespread public support for the rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to self-determination and the establishment of a sovereign state.
In 2010, a Gaza-bound flotilla of six ships was intercepted by Israeli forces, resulting in the deaths of 10 participants, with dozens more wounded by Israeli commandos, sparking widespread international condemnation. Subsequent flotilla attempts in 2011, 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2025 were also intercepted, or prevented from reaching Gaza.
Organisers of this year’s flotilla say its aim is to challenge the ongoing blockade, which they describe as an illegal form of collective punishment, and to draw attention to the severe shortages of food, medicine, and essential supplies affecting the population of Gaza.
