Elena Vaughan

Delighted to be at #FastTrackCities in Amsterdam to share the work we in @GalwayHPRC have been doing on HIV-related stigma in healthcare settings. The report can be accessed here: tinyurl.com/26pmrvm9 A quick🧵on some findings: 1/9

The Israeli bombardment of the National Lebanese University in Beirut. Scholasticide in Lebanon.

Two days ago, a child was brought into Gaza’s largest hospital with burns covering most of his body. His name is Mohammed. He is not yet two years old. Before the war, this sentence would have already been terrible enough. But in Gaza today it is only the beginning of the story. His mother had been heating water over a small fire inside the family’s tent. This is how nearly every family now lives. There are no kitchens, no electricity, no safe corners where a child can wander without danger. Only fabric walls, dust, smoke, and the daily improvisations required for survival. She wanted to bathe him. For a moment, no longer than a heartbeat, she looked away. Children of that age move with a strange and fearless curiosity. Mohammed came too close to the pot. Perhaps he tried to steady himself on its edge, perhaps he simply reached toward the steam. The pot tipped. Boiling water poured over his body. When he arrived at Al-Shifa Hospital, the doctors recorded what they always record in such moments: third-degree burns over nearly sixty percent of the body. The skin on the chest and abdomen had peeled away. Parts of the arms and legs had turned white and leathery, the unmistakable sign that the deepest layers of tissue had been destroyed. The child cried until exhaustion silenced him. The doctors began treatment. In ordinary hospitals, burns like these require a constant supply of sterile gauze, burn dressings, pain medication, antibiotics, and careful monitoring for infection. Every hour matters. But Gaza is no longer an ordinary place. Later that day, the boy’s father came to our clinic. He was not asking for money. He was not asking for food. He was asking for gauze and dressings. At first I thought he needed them for home care, or perhaps for another injured family member. But something in his voice suggested otherwise, so I called a colleague working in the burns and plastic surgery department at the hospital. What he told me was difficult to comprehend, even here. Every time the medical staff needs dressings for a patient, they must submit a formal request to the central medical warehouse. Not because this is standard procedure. Because the supplies are almost gone. The shortage is so severe that even the most basic medications, simple painkillers such as paracetamol, are not given freely. They are distributed only after written approval, as though each tablet were a rare and precious object. This is the reality inside Gaza’s hospitals now. There is another fact that explains how such a situation became possible. Since the beginning of this year, the Israeli army has not allowed Médecins Sans Frontières to bring medical supplies into their clinics in Gaza. And so tonight, somewhere inside the hospital wards, lies a child whose body is wrapped in burns. And somewhere in the city walks a father. He walks not toward home, not toward sleep, not toward prayer. He walks through a wounded city searching for bandages so that doctors can treat his son. In many places, war is counted in numbers: casualties, statistics, reports. In Gaza it is sometimes measured in something much smaller. A pot of boiling water. A burned child. And a hospital that no longer has bandages. #WoundedGaza

@DanMulhall First improve working conditions, employment, and funding opportunities for existing PhDs and postdocs. No point in churning out PhDs for the sake of it.

Should we try to increase the percentage of Irish people with PhDs? 👇

Nearly 700 sinkholes have appeared in parts of Turkey, with new ones showing up, fueled by extreme drought.

“It is clear there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention.” UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry's report shows #Israel has committed #genocide in #Gaza. ohchr.org/sites/default/…

Paul Laverty's post-release statement shows his legal training and deep humanity. He must have run rings around them in the police station. Not a hint of terrorism, violent intent or antisemitism on display here. Surely the charge cannot stand.

If you want an idea as to why Israel’s public is so genocidal and gleeful at the sight of Palestinian suffering, here’s under 4 minutes of Israel’s Channel 13… The genocidal hatred is so venomous that it would have made Goebbels blush

My cartoon in today's @irishexaminer. #Gaza

.@WHO’s staff residence in Deir al Balah, #Gaza, was attacked three times today as well as its main warehouse. Israeli military entered the premises, forcing women and children to evacuate on foot toward Al-Mawasi amid active conflict. Male staff and family members were handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot and screened at gunpoint. Two WHO staff and two family members were detained. Three were later released, while one staff remains in detention. 32 WHO staff and family members were evacuated to the WHO office once access became possible. WHO demands the immediate release of the detained staff and protection of all its staff. The latest evacuation order in Deir al Balah has affected several WHO premises, compromising our ability to operate in Gaza and pushing the health system further towards collapse. WHO’s main warehouse located in Deir al Balah is within the evacuation zone, and was damaged yesterday when an attack caused explosions and a fire inside. With the main warehouse nonfunctional and the majority of medical supplies in Gaza depleted, WHO is severely constrained in adequately supporting hospitals, emergency medical teams and health partners, already critically short on medicines, fuel, and equipment. WHO urgently calls on Member States to help ensure a sustained and regular flow of medical supplies into Gaza. As the lead agency for health, compromising WHO’s operations is crippling the entire health response in Gaza. A ceasefire is not just necessary, it is overdue.

One of the worst features of academia is reliance on especially younger people taking low paid, short-term jobs, going from one such position to the next, irresponsibly encouraged to believe that a permanent job will eventually be theirs. We are all diminished by this exploitative practice.

The flip side of this is the rise of a class of bureaucrat academics who have arrogated to themselves the prerogative of anointing some academics as “stars”, shower them with huge amounts of research leave (3, 5, even 7 years), as if teaching were somehow an affront to the academic vocation.

This is a deeply defective and unjust model that in certain respects replicates the polarised nature of our societies with a thin layer of “winners” at the top of the economic pile and much precariousness below.

Disgraceful & ignorant remark by @kajakallas. It should be immediately withdrawn. Is an insult to victims of British Forces in Ireland to suggest that Ireland knows nothing of oppression, occupation or atrocity. Fairplay to @Kathleensf1 for calling her out rte.ie/news/politics/…

More journalists killed in Gaza than World War 1, World War 2, Vietnam, Yugoslavia & Afghanistan combined

I met with @SimonHarrisTD today on the Occupied Territories Bill. I've worked tirelessly on this issue since 2018, and finally, after seven years, I think we will see action. This is so important, and we can't waste any more time. We need to act with the urgency this moment demands - to stand firmly against the horrific war crimes being committed in Gaza and in the West Bank. Two key things matter now: getting this done quickly, and ensuring that the Bill is as strong as possible. That means a full ban on all trade with the illegal settlements, both physical goods (like fruit and veg) but also services (like Airbnb). This is crucial, and it's what the ICJ have stated is required. The Tánaiste has said today that he has no issue with including services, if we can get the legal detail right. I am absolutely certain that we can. I will be doing everything possible to make sure we focus on this issue in the FA Committee and get it right. We have a lot of work to do, but we've gotten to where we are because people all over Ireland have seen the injustice happening in Palestine and demanded action. We've been working on this for seven years, and we'll keep going until it's done. #PasstheOccupiedTerritoriesBill

Tomorrow, Pearse Doherty and I will introduce legislation to end the sale of Israeli war bonds through the Irish Central Bank. These bonds help fund Israel’s brutal war on Gaza, where children are starving, and over 500 lives were lost in recent days alone. Ireland must not be complicit. Ireland cannot facilitate the funding of genocide. #StopTheWarBonds #CeasefireNow @PearseDoherty

U.S. Sanctions hit ICC Chief Prosecutor: Email Blocked, Bank Accounts Frozen, 900 Staff Banned from U.S. Entry International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan was placed under U.S. sanctions by the Trump administration in February 2025, as part of an effort to coerce the court into halting investigations of Israeli abuses in Gaza. His official Microsoft email account has been disabled, and his UK bank accounts frozen. Additionally, all 900 ICC staff members have been banned from entering the United States, accused of pursuing “illegitimate” investigations into alleged war crimes committed by Israel. The U.S. government has threatened that any individual or organisation providing Khan with financial, material, or technological assistance could face fines or imprisonment. Two U.S. based human rights organisations have confirmed they’ve ended cooperation with the ICC. One senior official noted that staff are now actively avoiding communication with court officials, citing fear of government retaliation.

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The situation for Palestinians in Gaza is beyond description, beyond atrocious & beyond inhumane. A policy of siege & starvation makes a mockery of international law. The blockade against humanitarian aid must end immediately. This is a moment for moral clarity & action.

España y Palestina estamos impulsando un nuevo proyecto de resolución en la Asamblea General de @UN. Vamos a exigir a Israel el fin del bloqueo humanitario a Gaza y el acceso completo y sin restricciones de la asistencia humanitaria. Trabajemos conjuntamente para alcanzarlo.