Deputy PM stands by Irish position on Gaza war after Israel closes embassy | Ireland

Ireland’s position on the war in Gaza “should not be seen as a hostile act”, the Irish deputy prime minister, Micheál Martin, has saidafter Israel decided to close its embassy in Dublin.

Israel ordered the closure on Sunday, citing Ireland’s decision last week to support a petition at the international court of justice accusing Israel of genocide. The Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, said the move was prompted by the Irish government’s “extreme anti-Israeli policies”.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels, Martin renewed Irish criticism of the scale of Israel’s response to the 7 October Hamas attacks, and defended his country’s decision to support the ICJ petition.

Any action taken by the Irish government had “not been motivated by anything other than respect for international humanitarian law”, said Martin, who is also Ireland’s foreign minister. “The utilisation of the international courts by Ireland … where there can be international accountability for war crimes in any part of the world, including in Gaza, should not be seen as a hostile act.

“Ireland stands by the approach it has taken, which has been motivated, as I have said, towards full accountability for what is happening in Gaza.”

Martin, who is expected to be made prime minister in January, said there was “huge anger” at the “level of killing of innocent men, women and children in Gaza”, and that what was happening in the north of the Palestinian territory “defies explanation”.

On Sunday, Sa’ar said “the antisemitic actions and rhetoric that Ireland is taking against Israel are based on delegitimisation and demonisation of the Jewish state and on double standards” and that “Ireland has crossed all red lines in its relationship with Israel”.

Maurice Cohen, the chair of Ireland’s Jewish Representative Council, said he was “deeply concerned” by the deterioration of relations between the two countries. He said Ireland’s intervention in the ICJ was “oversimplifying a highly complex and tragic conflict” and was “unfairly isolating Israel” while undermining the definition of genocide.

Relations between Ireland and Israel have long been strained because of Ireland’s stance on Palestine. In November, the Irish prime minster, Simon Harris, said the country’s authorities would detain his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, if he travelled to Ireland, after the international criminal court issued an arrest warrant for him.

On Monday, Martin called on Israel to “open up Gaza to the international community” and to let the media in to bear witness to what was happening. “I have no doubt if that happened the world would be shocked in terms of the level of destruction” and the need to allow “ordinary citizens and civilians … to get on with some modicum of a life”.

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s chief diplomat, is expected to table proposals to convene a meeting of the EU-Israel association at a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday.

Martin said such a meeting could be “not be business as usual” and would have to address a February letter from Ireland and Spain that called for a review of the EU-Israel association agreement on trade.

Palestinian health officials said on Monday that the Gaza death tollfrom the 14-month war had topped 45,000 people, with 52 dead arriving at hospitals over the past 24 hours. The Gaza health ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it has said more than half of the fatalities are women and children.

The Israeli military says it has killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.