The European Commission President’s early statements on the Israel-Hamas conflict were not balanced correctly, the Tánaiste has told Newstalk Breakfast.

Ursula von der Leyen came in for criticism from some quarters last week after comments she made while visiting Israel in the wake of the initial Hamas attack.

She said the country had a duty to defend itself and protect its people against the “atrocious” acts of Hamas – but failed to call on Israel to respect international law or be proportionate in its response.

President Michael D Higgins was among those to criticise Ms Von der Leyen for her words – describing them as “thoughtless and even reckless”.

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Tánaiste Micheál Martin refused to comment on whether the President was correct to wade into the debate – but did say Ms Von der Leyen has clarified her stance since she made her original comments.

“I think the balance initially was not right,” he said. “There are different strands of opinion across Europe in respect of this issue and we need to understand that.

“I think, given European experience around the Holocaust, a number of European states, particularly Germany, Austria and others, look at this through a different lens than perhaps the lens that Ireland and others do.

“It's trying to understand that and trying to deal with that to make sure that we, collectively, can bring the best pressure to bear on getting the right outcomes for the people of Gaza now at this stage.”

Humanitarian

He said the European Union is essential in terms of getting humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people.

“I think President von der Leyen has, over the last number of days, clearly pointed to the importance of adherence to international law and I believe that the European Union more generally is a very important contributor here in terms of humanitarian aid,” he said.

“We’re the biggest contributor of humanitarian aid to Palestinians. I think we can put pressure on to enable humanitarian aid to get into Gaza.”

War crime

Minister Martin also called on the International Criminal Court to investigate last night’s explosion at a hospital in Gaza.

Hundreds of people died in the attack, which the Palestinians have blamed on Israel.

Israel, meanwhile, has claimed a misfired Palestinian rocket was behind the blast.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin said the scenes in Gaza are horrific:

“I condemn unreservedly that attack on this hospital,” he said.

“In any context, in any war, rules apply and any targeting or any attack on civilian infrastructure represents a clear breach of international human law and is a war crime.”

He noted that there is “claim and counterclaim” regarding who was behind the attack and he does not know the truth.

He warned that the situation ins Gaza remains “absolutely dire” – with the lack of water, food and medical supplies putting hundreds of thousands of people in real danger.

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