Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said the evidence is “incontrovertible” that Gaza is facing a human catastrophe unless sufficient aid flows into the besieged city over the next few days.
Mr Martin said that humanitarian aid was not going into Gaza in anything like the quantities needed.
Mr Martin said he had spoken to the foreign minister of Israel on Monday about the situation and told him it was the view of the Irish Government that there needed to be an acceleration of aid.
He also called for the ending of Israel’s blockade of fuel being delivered into Gaza.
“Before the war, there was a minimum of 100 trucks a day going into Gaza. In the midst of the humanitarian crisis that’s unfolding, we need multiples of that going in.
“What came across at the [EU] meeting of foreign affairs ministers was the need for fuel because fuel enables you to get the desalination plants going and enables you to pump the water wells. Water is the big crisis now and these plants are not in a position to operate.”
Mr Martin, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, was speaking during the Global Ireland Summit in Dublin Castle which highlights the international footprint of the State around the world.
[ Hamas attack on Israel followed years of containment and dire poverty in GazaOpens in new window ]
At a media conference, the Tánaiste said his priority was to get the aid in. He said that Ireland was working with the Egyptian and the Israeli authorities to get 40 people with Irish citizenship in Gaza evacuated, along with other European citizens. He said he could give no timeline as it was a “step-by step” process.
Asked about suggestions from Israel that Hamas had stockpiled provisions, Mr Martin said he had no doubt from his discussions with senior United Nations officials that there is a dire situation within Gaza at the present time.
“All of the evidence is incontrovertible. We are facing a human catastrophe in Gaza if sufficiency of aid does not get in, and if people are not unable to get access to it. I would make a plea to Israel and to all concerned to allow aid in because ordinary people are suffering unduly. And it’s just not acceptable,” he said.
Asked if the Israeli ambassador to Ireland, Dana Erlich, had been wrong to criticise the comments of Michael D Higgins last week, where he claimed EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen had been “reckless” in her stance on the Israeli response to the Hamas attacks on October 7th, Mr Martin said he does not comment on issues relating to the President.
