Israel said on Sunday it will close its embassy in Ireland after relations between the two countries soured over the war in Gaza, where Palestinian health officials said fresh Israeli airstrikes killed more than 30 people, including several children.
The decision to close the embassy came in response to what Israel's foreign minister described as "Ireland's extreme anti-Israeli policies".
In May, Israel withdrew its ambassador to Dublin after Ireland announced, along with Norway, Spain and Slovenia, that it would recognize a Palestinian state. The Irish cabinet decided last week to formally intervene in South Africa's case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, which accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Israel denies such a thing.
"We are concerned that too narrow an interpretation of what constitutes genocide leads to a culture of impunity where the protection of civilians is minimized," Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheal Martin, said in a statement.
In a statement on the embassy closure, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said "Ireland has crossed every red line in its relations with Israel".
Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris called the decision to close the embassy "deeply regrettable". He added on Platform X: “I completely reject the statement that Ireland is anti-Israel. Ireland is pro-peace, pro-human rights and pro-international law".
Israeli strikes in Gaza kill a journalist and child
Israeli forces continued to pound much of the isolated northern Gaza on Sunday, as the Palestinian death toll in the war has reached almost 45,000.
An airstrike hit the Khalil Aweida school in the town of Beit Hanoun and killed at least 15 people, according to the nearby Kamal Adwan hospital where the victims were taken. The dead included two parents and their daughter and a father and his son, the hospital said. In Gaza City, at least 17 people, including six women and five children, were killed in three airstrikes that hit houses housing displaced people, according to Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.
The Israeli military said in a statement it had struck a "terrorist cell" in Gaza City and a "terrorist meeting point" in the Beit Hanoun area.
Another Israeli airstrike killed a Palestinian journalist working for Al Jazeera, Ahmed al-Lawh, in central Gaza, a Qatar-based hospital and TV station said. The attack hit a point for Gaza's civil defense agency in the Nuseirat urban refugee camp, Al-Awda Hospital said. Three civil defense workers were also killed, including the head of the agency in Nuseirat, according to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
The Civil Defense is Gaza's main rescue agency and operates under the Hamas-led government. The war in Gaza began after Hamas and other militants from Gaza attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking over 200 hostages.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed almost 45,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians, but says more than half of the dead have been women and children./VOA (A2 Televizion)
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