Gaeil ar son Gaza raise over €30,000 for the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund with their "Solas do Pháistí Gaza - Light for Children of Gaza"

Gaeil ar son Gaza have raised €33,493.50 in aid of the Palestinian Children's relief fund as part of their 'Solas do Phaistí Gaza' campaign.

The fundraiser run by Gaeil ar son Gaza asked people all over Ireland to light a candle in memory of every child that has been killed by Israel in Gaza at 9.30pm on May 1 2024.

At the time of launching the campaign, the number of Palestinian children killed in Gaza stood at 13,000.

Event organisers raised the main share of the donation on digital  fundraising platform Gofundme, where €26,685 was collected

Sharing in a post on X, the organisation revealed that the fundraiser had amounted to $35,154.78 or €33,493.50.

Buíochas libhse uile a thacaigh le 🕯️ #SolasDoPháistíGaza @ipsc48 @ipsc_derry @Belfast_IPSC @GaelsAgainstGen @CampaignCork @KinvaraPalestin @RositaSweetman
Happy to bring you the official receipt for the sum of 35,154.78 USD from @ThePCRF 🙏🏼 for supporting our action🕯️on 1/5/24 pic.twitter.com/q3kjgnDDVA

— Gaeil ar son Gaza (@GASG2024) July 9, 2024

One of the organisers of the initiative Áine Uí Fhoghlú thanked donors, saying: "We were very heartened by the response to our 8 week campaign from the general public".

Uí Fhoghlú said that the event was organised by a small community and received and overwhelming response: "We are only a committee of six and with limited resources, but we managed to get people across Ireland and abroad to participate at 60 different locations".

The organisers also paid particular thanks to some of the famous faces who supported the campaign which included First Lady of Ireland Sabina Higgins, former Dunnes Anti-Apartheid Striker Mary Manning, The Wolfe Tones, John Spillane, and  KNEECAP.

The FÓRSA trade union's National Executive encouraged all of its 85K membership to support the initiative.

Reflective on the fundraiser, Ms Uí Foghlú said: "When we undertook our initiative on May 1st the number of children thought to have been killed at that point was 15,000. Sadly, that number is now closer to 20,000, while the Save the Children Charity estimates that in addition, up to 21,000 children may be lying dead under the rubble".

Concluding she said: "It is appalling to think that world leaders are OK with this horror. While we know that our contribution is just a drop in the ocean considering the devastation being inflicted, we hope it will be some small help to the children of Gaza who are suffering this nightmare, with no end in sight."