Ireland’s PM urges for review of EU-Israel agreement after strike on Gaza school

Ireland’s Prime Minister Simon Harris has urged for an "urgent review" of the European Union’s partnership agreement with Israel, a day after an Israeli air strike targeted a school in Gaza City, killing over 90 Palestinians.

Speaking at the Tullamore Show in Co Offaly early on Sunday, Harris urged for a Gaza ceasefire and an end to Israel’s ongoing assaults on the besieged enclave.

He said the "world is standing at the precipice of a horrific moment" and that there was "growing evidence of a prolonged humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza."

The Israeli attack at dawn on Saturday targeted a school where thousands of forcibly displaced Palestinians were sheltering. The attack garnered global outrage from rights groups and countries including Egypt, Jordan, France, Lebanon and Turkey, amongst others.

Civil defence rescuers said three Israeli missiles hit the complex in Gaza City while people were performing dawn prayers.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told AFP that "bodies were torn apart. It reminds us of the first days of the war in the Gaza Strip."

Harris said any negotiations must be "talks that have results" after mediators Egypt, the US and Qatar called on Israel and Hamas to resume truce talks on 15 August.

"These can't just be talks about talks or another round of talks. They have to be talks that result in the violence stopping, that result in the war ending," Harris said.

"I believe we have to look at all of the levers at our disposal to do that. I have consistently said, and I reiterate today, that there is an EU-Israel Association agreement in place. That association agreement contains human rights clauses," he added.

He emphasised that human rights clauses are adhered to and enforced.

Harris’ call for a review of the agreement follows a similar call made earlier this year by then prime minister Leo Varadkar and the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

The two leaders wrote to European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen, calling for an assessment of whether Israel is complying with its human rights obligations under the EU-Israel Association Agreement.

The head of the UN refugee agency UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, also echoed calls for a ceasefire on Saturday.

"We cannot let the unbearable become a new norm," he wrote on social media platform X.

"The more recurrent, the more we lose our collective humanity," he added.

Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory condemned the world’s "indifference" to Israel’s ongoing assaults on Gaza.

"Israel is genociding the Palestinians one neighbourhood at a time, one hospital at a time, one school at a time, one refugee camo at a time, one safe zone at a time. With US and European weapons," she wrote.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 39,790 Palestinians since 7 October and wounded at least 92,000 others.

The war has plunged the besieged enclave into a deep humanitarian crisis and devastated entire neighbourhoods.