Since the announced ceasefire in Gaza on 10 October 2025  611 Palestinians have been killed, and 1,630 injured in Israeli attacks.

It is the continued violence, the settler attacks in The West Bank, and the limits to Humanitarian aid getting in that has resolved those in Orkney to continue with their weekly vigils. The vigils are held on Saturdays between 1 and 2pm on the Kirk Green, Broad Street, Kirkwall.

In Gaza, overcrowded insanitary conditions in makeshift tented shelters has resulted in an outbreak of skin infections (scabies and lice) and of waterborne diseases.

Civilians have been displaced multiple times as they seek places of safety. This is an impossible task for nowhere is safe. The trauma is unimaginable and will scar the mental wellbeing of Palestinians for generations to come.

This is about genocide, the erasure of a people and their culture, from lands they have lived and farmed in for generation upon generation. What is happening now is the drip drip drip of destruction, taking away hope and ensuring that international observers do not see and report on what is happening inside Gaza, and now extending into The West Bank, as the land grab takes hold.

But even as far away as Orkney is to Palestine, people in the islands do see, and they stand in solidarity with the people of Gaza and the atrocities being committed there by the State of Israel.

Every week since the end of October 2023 islanders have met in vigil and The Orkney News has been there to record their reflections on what it means to them and why they continue to stand, in all weathers, every Saturday, outside Orkney’s iconic symbol of peace, St Magnus Cathedral.

All the films made are available to view for free on The Orkney News YouTube channel. Not everyone can stand in vigil and they support the people of Palestine through buying their produce (Zaytoun) helping Palestinian farmers, or through donations to Hope and Play, or to the Shufat Refugee camp via the Orkney Friends of Palestine.

Below is the video from last week’s Vigil.

Fiona Grahame