Tánaiste Micheál Martin has called on Israel to rescind its decision to give 1.1 million people in Gaza 24 hours to evacuate their homes on the northern sector of the strip.
He said that it was not feasible for such a large movement of population within a day and would impose “enormous trauma” on the ordinary citizens of Gaza.
“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” he said.
Mr Martin said that those who witnessed the horrific outcome of the Hamas attack and the random and indiscriminate murder of Israeli citizens should recognise that Israel has a right to self-defence.
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He continued: “It must be within international law and there are obligations under [the] Geneva Convention.
“It simply isn’t feasible that a million people can move out of a city in 24 hours. That call by Israel should be rescinded and should be pulled back because I think everybody knows it’s not something that can be achieved at all.
“I think it puts enormous trauma on the ordinary civilians of Gaza. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
“There’s an obligation to protect civilians in Gaza, to protect children and families, people who have nothing to do with Hamas.”
Mr Martin said he accepted that Israel had a legitimate right to deal with Hamas because it had waged war on Israel and its civilians.
However, he added: “It cannot be in the context of an attack on the civilian population of Gaza. Our value system is one that does not in any way support any collective punishment of an entire population. That’s not acceptable, from our perspective.
“And we now know that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is escalating on a daily basis in terms of food in terms of food eating, and it’s very very serious.”
He said that Ireland was working with the United Nation and the EU to provide humanitarian corridors.
He said the EU had shown unity in relation to responding to the attacks, saying there was a strong unity of purpose to continue providing humanitarian aid among foreign ministers, when the European Council of Foreign Affairs met this week.
There was also strong agreement, he said, supporting the application of international law to any military response by Israel to the attack.
Mr Martin also said there was criticism expressed at the meeting of the tweet sent, unilaterally, by Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi in which the Hungarian commissioner claimed that EU assistance to Palestine was under review.
