We could see thousands of people dying every day in Gaza, says Taoiseach  

Leo Varadkar attended a forum on humanitarian aid to Gaza on Thursday, where he held 'helpful' meetings with Middle East leaders

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the Government was not currently considering any scheme for refugees from Gaza.

Thousands of people will die every day if a humanitarian ceasefire is not agreed in Gaza, the Taoiseach has said.

Leo Varadkar was speaking in Paris on Thursday as he attended a forum on humanitarian aid to Gaza.

At the forum, Mr Varadkar held bilateral meetings with prime minister of the Palestinian Authority Mohammad Shtayyeh, a Prince of Jordan, and the Egyptian foreign minister.

They discussed the plight of both 40 Irish citizens still in Gaza and Emily Hand — the Irish-Israeli eight-year-old thought to be held captive by Hamas.

However, Mr Varadkar did not go into detail, saying it would not be helpful to speak about the content of those meetings.

"That was a real chance for me, just to talk about Irish citizens in Gaza and of course, the Irish girl who may well be being held hostage in Gaza, seeking their support for our efforts to secure their release. The meetings with Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority are helpful in that regard.

"But I don't want to get into details because that wouldn't help what we're trying to achieve, but it was definitely useful to talk to Egypt and Jordan in particular."

Death toll

Mr Varadkar said without a ceasefire, leaders attending the conference in the French capital were warned the death toll from the war in Gaza would skyrocket. He said the death toll for UN staff in the region had climbed to above 100.

"I was really struck by the reports that were given by the UN, the Red Cross, Medicins san Frontieres, the World Health Organization and others. It is just a very serious humanitarian situation in Gaza. 

"Over 10,000 people are already dead, but they believe that the situation is going to deteriorate significantly. As water and sanitation fail, we could see thousands of people dying every day. And the real fear and real escalation of this crisis will spread to the West Bank across to Lebanon.

"I really need to emphasise the need for three things. Above all the need for a humanitarian ceasefire as soon as possible and for as long as possible to facilitate the release of the hostages, foreign citizens being allowed to leave Gaza, and also making sure that we can get humanitarian aid in."

Mr Varadkar said it was crucial to make sure those who provide humanitarian aid were protected.

'Humanitarian ceasefire'

"It's very clear to me from what I heard from other politicians, from the UN, from the international agencies that there's only one thing that has happened now the international community has to come together and demand a humanitarian ceasefire, otherwise, the situation is going to become unbearable, and it's likely spread to other parts of the region."

Mr Varadkar said the Government was not currently considering any scheme for refugees from Gaza. He said governments in the region had highlighted to him there should be no "population transfer" where refugees may not be permitted to re-enter Gaza.

"Of course, anybody from Palestine who comes to Ireland can claim international protection in the way that people fleeing from other conflicts do. But I got a very strong message, not just from the Palestinian Authority themselves, but also from Egypt and Jordan, they don't want to see anyone facilitating a population transfer. Let's not forget the origins of this conflict.

"Jewish people from Europe and from Arab countries being pushed out of their homes and Arabs in Palestine being pushed out of their homes. And there's a real fear, actually, [that] that's one of the consequences of this conflict. That the displacement of Palestinian people from Gaza and from the West Bank will then not be allowed to return. 

So there was a very strong message, Ireland will always consider individual applications on a case-by-case basis, but we shouldn't be doing anything that is a facilitation of population transfer of Palestinians."

While the conference had no delegates from Israel, Mr Varadkar said he hoped the country would allow a ceasefire to take place.

He said he hoped Israel "will give consideration to a humanitarian ceasefire or humanitarian pause".

"I know that some of its closest allies like the United States are now calling for that and working towards that because I just don't see an alternative. At some stage, the fighting is going to have to stop. And the sooner it stops, the better. That doesn't prevent Israel from continuing to pursue the Hamas terrorists that attacked it."

He said he felt "more and more people are coming to recognise" it is disproportionate.

European position

"But I think that we need to see greater development of a more unified European position. We saw the strength of the European Union when they came together on Ukraine. We haven't come together in the same way when it comes to this conflict. I think we need to try and develop a much more solid European position."

Mr Varadkar also said Palestinian people must run Palestine.

Israeli has tried occupying Gaza before and it didn't work. It left and it fell into the hands of Hamas and we saw the consequence of that only last month with their terrible terrorist attack on Israel.

"I don't think reoccupation is a viable prospect in the short to medium term. Exactly what form that's going to take, I don't know. I would strongly agree, though, with both the Americans, [and the] French president, that it is Palestinians who should be running Gaza, not anyone else. 

"But I don't think they can do that on their own. They're going to need international support, the Palestinian Authority is going to be asked to take control of Gaza. There is going to be a lot of help from us and from the US and from the EU."