‘War crimes’ may be unfolding during Israeli bombardment of Gaza, Micheál Martin says

There is “no evidence” that Ireland’s stance on the war in Gaza has led to Israel blocking Irish citizens from leaving the enclave, Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said.

The Government has called for a ceasefire amid Israel’s bombardment of the Palestinian territory as it seeks to destroy Hamas in response to a wave of October 7th attacks on Israeli civilians.

“We certainly could be watching war crimes unfolding,” Mr Martin told RTÉ's This Week programme on Sunday.

He said dense urban areas cannot be bombed without civilians and children being put at serious risk and that the Israeli actions have been “disproportionate by any measure”.

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Mr Martin, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, said “it’s not necessary”. He added that while Israel has a right to “take on” Hamas, it is “the manner and the methodology” being used that people are questioning.

“You can’t make calculations that ‘if I get one Hamas Commander, it’s okay to take out 100 civilians’,” he said. “I don’t want to put it as crudely as that but that’s what’s manifesting.

“I think intelligence-led approaches to terrorism have always been more effective.”

Israel has insisted during the current conflict that it is acting within international law and it is taking measures to avoid civilian casualties.

There are believed to be between 35 and 40 Irish citizens in Gaza and so far none have been allowed to leave through the border with Israel.

During Sunday’s interview, Mr Martin was asked whether Irish citizens were being held back by Israel as punishment for the country’s position on the war.

“We have no evidence for that at all,” he replied. “But we’ve been working with Israeli authorities.

“We’re not on the list. We weren’t on the list the last number of days. That’s just a fact. But we will work on a continuing basis to get our citizens out.”

The Tánaiste declined to comment on reports that there is an Irish citizen among the more than 200 hostages taken by Hamas last month and that he had discussed the matter with the Iranian foreign minister.

He said the Government is working to get every Irish citizen out of Gaza and “I don’t intend to comment on any specific case”.

Earlier, Mr Martin told The Week in Politics programme that Ireland’s ambassadors are working with Israel and Egypt to get Irish passport holders out of Gaza. He said Israel is helping.

Israeli ambassador to Ireland Dana Erlich and Palestinian ambassador Dr Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid attended Fianna Fáil’s ardfheis on Saturday, as did several others from the foreign diplomatic corps.

Mr Martin has criticised opposition calls for Ms Erlich’s expulsion.

“The idea of expelling the Israeli ambassador, which Sinn Féin have proposed, makes no sense in terms of a conflict of this enormity where we’re trying to get citizens out, where it’s absolutely critical that we maintain communications links ... and put pressure on people to get a cessation of hostilities,” he said.

“That is what diplomacy is about ultimately. It’s not an endorsement of anyone’s policies. It’s maintaining vital communication links in a time of great conflict and distress where our citizens need help.”

On the same programme, Sinn Féin TD Eoin Ó Broin said the Israeli bombing of Gaza is “the single biggest danger to our passport holders”. He said 10,000 people have been killed and Ireland has called for a ceasefire.

“The government in Israel is simply not listening and therefore the Israeli ambassador’s position is simply no longer tenable while this onslaught continues,” he said.

The German embassy in Dublin has in recent days shared a link on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to comments by vice-chancellor Robert Habeck, who said of the reaction to events in the Middle East that “anti-colonialism must not lead to anti-Semitism”.

In its post the embassy wrote that the remarks were “an important and timely reminder ... both for Germany and Ireland”.

Asked about the embassy’s post Mr Martin said: “We all know within the European Union there are different strands of opinion on the Israel question and on the Middle Eastern question.

“We know that Germany, Austria, other countries have a completely different perspective to ours because of the Holocaust.

“Now I don’t accept the rationale for that in terms of how that follows through and applies to policies to this very day. I can understand the background to it. I don’t agree with all of it.”

Mr Martin said there has never been unanimity in Europe on the Middle Eastern question.