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Israel said Sunday it will close its embassy in Ireland as relations deteriorated over the war in Gaza, where Palestinian medical officials said fresh Israeli airstrikes killed more than 30 people, including several children.
The decision to close the embassy in Dublin came in response to what Israel’s foreign minister described as Ireland’s “extreme anti-Israel policies”. In May, Israel recalled its ambassador in Dublin after Ireland announced, along with Norway, Spain and Slovenia, that it would recognize a Palestinian state.
Last week, the Irish cabinet decided to formally intervene in South Africa’s case against Israel before the International Court of Justice, which accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Israel denies the charges.
“We are concerned that a very narrow interpretation of what constitutes genocide will lead to a culture of impunity in which the protection of civilians is minimized,” Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said in a statement.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar’s statement on the embassy closure said that “Ireland has crossed all red lines in its relations with Israel.”
Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris called the decision to close the embassy “deeply regrettable.” And he added about X: “I categorically reject the claim that Ireland is anti-Israeli. Ireland is in favor of peace, human rights and international law.”
Children and journalists killed in Gaza
Israeli forces continued attacking largely isolated northern Gaza on Sunday as the Palestinian death toll in the war approached 45,000.
An airstrike hit the Khalil Aweida school in the city of Beit Hanoun, killing at least 15 people, according to the nearby Kamal Adwan hospital, where the victims were treated.
The dead included two parents and their daughter, as well as 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 homes housing displaced people, according to Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.
“We woke up to the attack. I woke up to rubble on top of me,” said a bandaged Yahia al-Yazji, crying for his wife and daughter. He added that his wife was three months pregnant.
Israel’s military said in a statement that it had struck a “terrorist cell” in Gaza City and a “terrorist meeting point” in the Beit Hanoun area.
Another Israeli airstrike in central Gaza killed a Palestinian journalist working for Al Jazeera, said Ahmed al-Lawh, a Qatar-based hospital and television station.
The attack hit a Gaza civil defense agency point in the urban Nuseirat 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. Civil defense is Gaza’s main rescue agency and operates under the Hamas-led government.
The war in Gaza began after Hamas and other Gaza militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostage.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed nearly 45,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry’s count does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, but says that more than half of the dead have been women and children.
