Irish premier Leo Varadkar has said that some of Israel’s actions in Gaza were “something more approaching revenge”.
The Taoiseach reiterated his belief that Israel has a right to defend itself, and to “go after Hamas”, but said what he is “seeing unfolding at the moment isn’t just self-defence”.
He said that he did not believe that Israel would guarantee its security through these actions.
Mr Varadkar made the comments to Irish media in South Korea, where he and three ministers are taking part in a trade mission as part of a “big bang” strategy to improve Irish relations with less-visited countries.
On Thursday, Ireland’s president said that “collective punishment” cannot be accepted and there must be a push for verified facts in relation to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Michael D Higgins said that those who want to uphold international law “must press for an independent verification of the facts”, and that lives lost should “not reduced to competing press releases”.
Mr Higgins said that if international law is to be upheld, hostages should be released and an immediate humanitarian ceasefire should come into effect.