Kildare woman enters seventh day of hunger strike for Gaza

Sophie Ní Choimín began her hunger strike for Gaza on May 21st

The Galway-based musician will continue her strike until the government passes the Occupied Territories Bill into law and food aid is allowed into Gaza.

She began the hunger strike on May 21st and is now experiencing a cough, dizziness, body aches, and severe hunger pangs.

The woman told Kildare Today that although she has her family's support, she feels 'shame' over what she is putting them through.

Sophie explained that there are doctors who are 'keeping an eye' on her.

"At the same time, that's the part of this that is my shame, that this is what I've put my family through, but still I have my family's support, and it's what I feel is necessary in order to even get a bit of response out of the government, and even at that, they haven't been that keen to respond," she said.

The young woman attended the Dáil yesterday and brought a watermelon with her, 'just to prove to the government' that she is not 'trying to be a martyr' or 'extreme'.

"I will literally eat this in front of them if they just take any action," she told District Magazine.

"14,000 babies starving within 48 hours, and those figures for any Irish person who knows their history will bring them back to the famine, and that's the moment of disgrace that I was like, 'We cannot a European country who's experienced genocide and who's saying nothing about this or offering weak words of condemnation.

"Not worth it for me, and I think a lot of Irish people feel that they don't deserve that representation," she continued.

Sophie has received lots of support online, with one TikTok user calling her 'incredibly powerful'.

"You're doing a powerful thing girl and you've got my support," wrote another.