Member's statement: Deaths in Gaza
Member's statement by Ms Kate Nicholl on .
- MLA
- Ms Kate Nicholl
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 10 December 2024
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Deaths in Gaza
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4715310
Read the official Assembly record
Text
On Wednesday 4 December, a much-loved doctor and teaching assistant in our city received the news that they had been dreading. Nineteen members of their family in Gaza had been killed by Israeli air strikes: a mother, a brother, an uncle, cousins and children. Looking for safety, they had been evacuated nine times, and, each time they moved to a new area, they were in danger. They were killed in their tents, burned alive by bombs.
It is important to stress that nowhere in Gaza is safe. People cannot be evacuated; the borders are closed. Nothing has been done.
When I spoke to Omar, whose family members were killed, he said that he wanted his family to be remembered, because every human being has importance, value and worth. Therefore, I will read out the names of his family members who were killed on Wednesday 4 December: Akram Wael Akram Al-Masry; Julia Osama Muhammad Barhoum; Abdullah Musa Abdullah Al-Astal; Haitham Muhammad Abdullah Abu Mustafa; Muhammad Ahmad Hussein Juma; Yahya Muhammad Ahmad Juma; Bassem Abdullah Youssef Hassanein, who was Dalal's mother; Fawqiya Abdul Rahim Diab Lafi; Israa Muhammad Suleiman Al-Astal; Jouri Osama Muhammad Barhoum; Sham Ali Younis Shurab; Shaima Muhammad Fathi Al-Majayda; Wafaa Ali Younis Shurab; Ahmed Muhammad Ahmad Juma; Mahmoud Muhammad Ahmad Juma; Layan Bassem Abdullah Abu Hassanein; Khalil Hussein Khalil Lafi; Osama Afif Abdullah Ghanem; and Latifa Bassem Abdullah Hassanein. Four people remain unidentified because of the devastation. Every life has value. Every person has value. The international community has to do something. People cannot keep dying. There were children in that family who were killed. It is an outrage and an atrocity. My heart goes out to every member of our Palestinian community today who feels that devastation and is worried for their family members.
296 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.17 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.88).
- Subject area: Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.12 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.09 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.19 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.17 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.88 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.11 |
| Adopts it | 0.01 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers | 0.59 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.25 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.06 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.04 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.03 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:43 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.