Irish premier condemns Israeli strike on Gaza school as ‘inhumane and despicable’

Irish premier Simon Harris has condemned an Israeli airstrike attack on a school building in which dozens were killed and injured as “inhumane and despicable”.

At least 30 people sheltering at a girls’ school in Deir Al-Balah were taken to hospital and pronounced dead, after a strike that Israel’s military said targeted Hamas militants’ operations.

In a statement, Taoiseach Simon Harris condemned the attack as “a further demonstration of brutal, unconscionable violence”.

“Targeting an area populated with displaced families is inhumane and despicable,” he said.

“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.

“I again call for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages and unimpeded access for aid into Gaza.

“The bloodshed and suffering need to end.”

Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s health ministry.

The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

Healthcare professionals and aid agencies have also warned that food and water supplies being limited in the Palestinian enclave are putting more people’s lives at risk.

The war began with an assault by Hamas militants on southern Israel on October 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages.

About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.