A British pro-Palestine organisation has sponsored a “funday” in Gaza in which children celebrated the lives of infamous Irish Republican “martyrs”.

Pictures posted on Twitter by Belfast-based Palestine Aid last week showed children on a beach carrying framed portraits of IRA bomber Bobby Sands and Marxist revolutionary James Connolly, who led the 1916 Easter Uprising and was executed by the British Army.

Images of the celebration of Irish republican terrorism by children in Gaza were posted by an activist and Palestine Aid director known as Fra Hughes.

Mr Hughes appears to be a supporter of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, mass-murdering Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and controversial UK activist George Galloway, who was recently accused of deploying “toxic politics” and “sowing division” in the Batley and Spen by-election.

An image included at the top of Mr Hughes’ Facebook page shows him meeting and shaking hands with al-Assad.

He has also posted on Facebook a photo of himself in a warm handshake with Mr Corbyn.

And the Amazon page for a book by Mr Hughes called “An Activist's Tale: My walk with Palestine” contains an endorsement that reads: “I first met Fra Hughes when he joined one of my siege-busting convoys to Gaza in 2010. Since then I have been frequently impressed by his activism. If you want to know what makes an activist tick - read this diary! George Galloway, London”.

Records at Companies House show that a Francie Hughes is a director of Palestine Aid Limited, based in Belfast.

In a reply to Twitter users responding to the pictures of children in Gaza, he said: “We are going to send 1000 dollars a month to continue this on the ground outreach.”

On 13 June, he posted a message on George Galloway’s Facebook page which said: “Palestine Aid Belfast is Proud to announce we have transferred £2,530 (95 per cent of our reserves) to our representative in Gaza.”

Sands, who died in 1981 whilst on a prison hunger strike, helped to plan a bombing in Dunmurry in 1976 and was captured after a gun battle with police as he tried to escape.