Irish PM Simon Harris says Israel's decision to shutter Dublin embassy 'regrettable'

Ireland's Prime Minister Simon Harris has called Israel’s decision to close its embassy in Dublin "deeply regrettable" but said his government would not change its position on how the war in Gaza is being fought.

Israel announced on Sunday it would shut its mission in the Irish capital because of what Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called "extreme anti-Israel policies."

"I will push back very strongly against any attempt by any country to misrepresent Ireland's position. Ireland is not anti-Israeli, but Ireland is absolutely anti the starvation of children, is absolutely anti the killing of civilians and is absolutely pro-peace, pro-international law and pro-human rights," Harris told reporters.

"And we have been consistent in relation to our foreign policy position that there needs to be an immediate ceasefire and that the hostages need to be freed and that there needs to be the flow of humanitarian aid into the Middle East."

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar's statement on the embassy closure said that "Ireland has crossed every red line in its relations with Israel."

"We are concerned that a very narrow interpretation of what constitutes genocide leads to a culture of impunity in which the protection of civilians is minimised," Ireland’s deputy premier and foreign affairs minister, Micheál Martin, said in a statement on Sunday.

Relations between the two countries have soured since the war in Gaza erupted last October with Israel recalling its ambassador to Dublin after Ireland announced, along with Norway, Spain and Slovenia, that it would recognise a Palestinian state.

The Irish cabinet last week decided to formally support South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, which accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, claims Israel denies.

Strikes on Gaza

Meanwhile, Israeli forces have continued to pound Gaza’s largely isolated north, as the Palestinian death toll approaches 45,000.

One airstrike hit the Khalil Aweida school in the town of Beit Hanoun and killed at least 15 people, according to nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital where casualties 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 sheltering displaced people, according to Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.

Israel's military in a statement said it 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, according to the Qatari-based broadcaster.

The strike hit a point for Gaza’s civil defence agency in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp, Al-Awda Hospital said. Also killed were three civil defence workers including the head of the agency in Nuseirat, according to al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital.

The civil defence is Gaza's main rescue agency and operates under the Hamas-run government.

The war in Gaza began after Hamas and other militants from Gaza stormed southern Israel on 7 October last year, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 250 people hostage.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed almost 45,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

The ministry's count does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, but it says over half of the dead are women and children.