Taoiseach Simon Harris has condemned the “despicable” Israeli airstrike on a girl’s school in Gaza that killed 30 people.
Over 100 people were also injured in the attack on a school in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, Palestinian health officials have said.
Hamas said the schoolyard and the field medical centre were hit by three bombs – and described the attack as “a horrific massacre against defenceless victims”.
Israel said the airstrike was a targeted operation on a command-and-control centre used to store weapons and plan attacks.
A statement said it had taken "numerous steps" prior to the strike to minimise civilian harm including "appropriate munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence".
Civil defence workers in Gaza said more than 4,000 people were sheltering in the school and it also contained a medical site.
Palestinians search for bodies in the rubble of a school destroyed in an Israeli airstrike on Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 27/07/2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)According to Sky News journalist John Sparks in Jerusalem, people are still searching through the rubble following the strike, “looking for friends, looking for family”.
Taoiseach Harris condemned the attack, saying it was a further demonstration of brutal, unconscionable violence.
He also said targeting an area populated with displaced families is “inhumane and despicable”.
"Israel continues to use disproportionate force and is engaging in a war that is having an unacceptable level of civilian death and injury, especially to children,” he said.
The Taoiseach once again for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages and unimpeded access for aid into Gaza.
Roughly 800 people marched through Cork city this afternoon over the war in Gaza.
Protestors held a theatrical “arrest” of major Western leaders in response to the International Court of Justice ruling last week.
They were led by impersonators of Joe Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, Ursula Von Der Leyen, and Donald Trump dressed in prison stripes.
They're calling on the Government here to “get serious” about opposing genocide by enacting sanctions to isolate the Israeli regime.
