“My thoughts are with the families of the deceased, and all those whose lives have been impacted,” he said. These acts risk escalating the situation and leading to further violence,” Martin said.

“The killing of civilians, including children, is never acceptable. In a statement this afternoon, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said he “deeply regrets” the loss of life in Gaza today. In anticipation of Palestinian rocket attacks in response to the airstrikes, the Israeli military issued instructions advising communities within 25 miles of Gaza to stay close to designated bomb shelters. Growing tension in the region is linked to increasing violence in the occupied West Bank, where Israel has been conducting near daily raids for the past months to detain Palestinians suspected in planning or carrying out attacks. Palestinian paramedics inspect damage in a building following Israeli airstrikes on an apartment of an Islamic Jihad commander in Gaza City The Israeli representatives’ comments came during a so-called Universal Periodic Review – a process all 193 UN countries must undergo every four years – where Israel saw its rights record harshly criticised. “We will not let these terrorist groups undermine the very strive to coexistence we all wish to achieve.” Israel’s ambassador to the United Nation in Geneva Meirav Eilon Shahar insisted to the UN that the strikes were aimed “to restore peace and security to the citizens of Israel”. The Gaza health ministry said four children were among those killed and 20 people were wounded, some of them in serious or critical condition, after the attacks which left buildings ablaze and reduced others to rubble. The Israeli army said that in its Gaza air strikes, it had targeted three leaders of Islamic Jihad, which it considers a terrorist group, as well as its “weapon manufacturing sites”.

“Israel directs these attacks only against military targets and takes all feasible precautions to mitigate harm to civilians.” “Today, following months of attacks against Israeli citizens, Israel began a campaign, Operation ‘Shield and Arrow’, against Islamic Jihad military targets, which is conducted in accordance with the Law of Armed Conflict,” Avishai Kaplan, with the IDF’s International Law Department, told the UN Human Rights Council. Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has condemned the strikes.įollowing the pre-dawn strikes, a representative for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) maintained the attacks adhered to the law of armed conflict. ISRAEL HAS TOLD a UN meeting it was justified in carrying out deadly strikes on Gaza which killed 13 people, including several children.

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