Ireland and other European states implore Israel to drop its Gaza plan

Eleven-year-old Samir Muhammed Samir Zekut fighting for his life due to insufficient treatment after being seriously injured in an Israeli attack on a house in Sheikh Radwan, Gaza in May. Picture: Ahmed Jihad Ibrahim Al-arini/Anadolu/Images 

Ireland has joined other European countries to write a letter imploring Israel not to expand the war in Gaza, stating that it would be a “flagrant violation of international law”.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Friday that Israel would seek "the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip", as well as "Israeli security control in the Gaza Strip" and "the establishment of an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority".

At a press conference on Sunday, Mr Netanyahu doubled down on the plan, claiming Israel "has no choice but to finish the job and complete the defeat of Hamas".

Other signatories of the European include foreign ministers in Iceland, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain.

The letter stated that further escalation would “only deepen” the humanitarian crisis and “further endanger the remaining hostages’ lives”.   

“This operation will lead to an unacceptable high toll of deaths and the forced displacement of nearly one million Palestinian civilians,” it stated.

We firmly reject any demographic or territorial changes in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Actions in this regard constitute a flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law.

The letter went on to call for an immediate ceasefire, the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, and a pathway to a two-state solution.

Speaking at the Tullamore Show in Offaly, Mr Harris said the conflict is at an “extraordinarily dangerous moment”.

“We’re living at a time where children are starving in Gaza and where there had been a lot of effort by a lot of countries, including Ireland, to try to get to a moment of de-escalation, where finally there could be a ceasefire, humanitarian aid could flow, hostages could be released,” he said.

“We now see the Netanyahu government take an extraordinarily dangerous step in the absolute wrong direction.” 

He added: “I think people in Ireland know, they know what famine is like. It's ingrained in our mindset, in our history. To be seeing a modern-day famine take place in the 21st century is utterly repulsive and repugnant to everything any decent person can stand for.”