A last-minute meeting of Belfast City Council to discuss Gaza-related matters has been criticised.

At the outset, DUP councillor Bradley Ferguson called the gathering a “sham”, and questioned why it was convened when it does not relate to anything which the council has power over.

The Alliance Party said in a statement, just as the meeting was getting underway, that it was already shaping up into an “unseemly political spat”, adding that councillors had been given less than two hours’ notice that it was even taking place.

The sole motion under debate was brought by People Before Profit councillor Michael Collins, and seconded by Sinn Fein’s Ronan McLaughlin.

placeholder image — DUP group leader Sarah Bunting addressing the council tonight, where she attacked the fact the meeting was being held at all given it did not concern ratepayers

It read: “Council notes with deep concern the ongoing hunger strike of six Palestine solidarity activists in Britain.

"Two of these activists, Qesser Zuhrah and Amu Gib, are on their 51st day of hunger strike and are consequently in critical condition.

"Council calls on the British government to immediately allow medical access to all of the activists, to end the censorship of their communication from inside prison and to enter negotiations in earnest to ensure the hunger strike can come to an end before lives are lost.

"Council further calls on the First Minister and Deputy First Minister to intervene in their official capacity to relay these demands to the Prime Minister, on behalf of the council, and the sizeable Palestinian community for whom Belfast is home.”

Responding, DUP group leader Sarah Bunting said it was “utterly ridiculous” that the meeting was taking place, adding that “it has nothing to do with the ratepayers of this city”.

She said the motion concerns “giving political concessions to activists linked to a proscribed organisation who have chosen to starve themselves to manipulate the justice system”.

"A hunger strike is not persecution – it is strategy,” she said.

"It is not oppression – it is self-inflicted.

"And it’s not coersion against them – it’s attempted coersion from them against the UK government.

"Nobody is denying them food, nobody is denying them medical treatment, and nobody is preventing them from speaking through the legal channels that are there.”

SDLP councillor Paul Doherty said the matter at hand “is not a distant concern or a theoretical risk, it is an immediate threat to life – they are dying in custody and what we’re talking about tonight is basic humanity”.

He added that “standing up against genocide and war crimes is not a criminal act, nor will it ever be”.

Councillor Collins concluded that Palestine “is some seperate issue... that doesn’t affect here”.

Instead it is “directly affecting people’s civil liberties today because thousands of people are being arrested for false charges of terrorism – that is an attack on all of us”.

When it came down to a vote, the motion passed by 28 votes to 13.

After the vote, councillor McLaughlin said in a statement: “Tonight, Belfast City Council called on the British government to act immediately to resolve the protest and save the lives of the prisoners currently on hunger strike in British jails.

“With every passing hour, this situation becomes more dangerous, endangering the lives of the protesters.

“It is time for the British Prime Minister to find an immediate resolution to this protest."

The Alliance Party’s councillors did not attend the meeting, and instead the party issued a statement saying: “This is a serious issue and one which requires proper discussion and consideration: that cannot be achieved at a council meeting convened at less than two hours’ notice.

"Under the legislation, the recommended minimum notice for any council meeting is three days - that requirement is there for a reason, recognising that Councillors have work and childcare commitments that can't be changed at the drop of a hat.

"However, in Belfast, the Lord Mayor is able to override that to convene a meeting at any time and has done so tonight, to facilitate what will undoubtedly be another unseemly political spat, which does no justice to the seriousness of this issue.

"Alliance has already placed its position on record regarding Israel and Gaza, and the party is writing to the UK government to emphasise the need for fair and humane treatment, and that all steps are taken to prevent any avoidable loss of life."