An open letter co-ordinated by the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) and UNISON NI urges the UK to “voice its support for all necessary immediate action to stop the ongoing human rights violations and breaches of international law that are being committed in Gaza”.

“The indiscriminate attacks on civilian lives and infrastructures within Gaza, the deprivation of food, water, fuel supplies, and medicines, and use of collective punishment is in grave breach of international law,” it states.

The letter says the UK “cannot continue to provide moral, financial, or military support to an Israeli government that dehumanises residents in Gaza as ‘human animals’ and commits war crimes with impunity” and must also “act to stop other governments providing assistance in support of these war crimes and breaches of international law”.

It adds: “The lesson from the Northern Ireland conflict is very stark. The only way to achieve peace is through respect for all human life and the application of the rule of law. Both of which are absent from the unfolding conflict in Gaza.”

The signatories include Ciaran Shiels and Fearghal Shiels of Madden & Finucane Solicitors, Darragh Mackin and Gavin Booth of Phoenix Law, Niall Murphy of KRW LAW LLP and Nichola Harte of Harte Coyle Collins Solicitors.

The letter has also been signed by Kate Barry and Maria McCloskey, senior staff members at The PILS Project, and Children’s Law Centre director Paddy Kelly, as well as legal academics including Professor Rory O’Connell and Professor Siobhán Wills from the Transitional Justice Institute at Ulster University.