The Tánaiste has announced an "immediate" €13 million aid package for Palestinian people following recent violence in the Middle East.
Micheál Martin said the aid package includes €10m for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and €3m for the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs'.
Speaking in the Dáil, Mr Martin called on European Union and regional partners "to step up now to provide whatever financial support they can to UNRWA", the agency to which Ireland is giving its "unwavering support".
He said that Ireland's assistance to Palestinians was to have been €16m this year, but this "will now almost double" with the €13m announced today.
I am announcing an immediate package of €13m for the people of Palestine
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) October 18, 2023
€10m for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.
€3m for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
This is a crisis that simply cannot wait.
🔗 https://t.co/gsXBCxwMDE pic.twitter.com/kXyD2wIj1e
The announcement comes after President Michael D Higgins called for the facts to be established around the strike on the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people.
He said that the incident "may ultimately be a war crime", but the facts must be established.
President Higgins said it is very important that there is a reliable investigation as to how it came to be, who is responsible and what the consequences are.
"I cannot understand how the advocacy of no restraint isn't an encouragement to become involved in what ultimately might be a war crime.
"But one must establish the facts and they should be established and they should be made public."
Speaking in Rome, he said he had expressed revulsion at the attack on people attending a music event earlier this month and the circumstances of the killing of young people in Israel.
But he said: "We are not asked to choose and exclusively concentrate on that particular horror and set aside our concerns at what are the pre-announced deliberate breaches of international law which are involved when you remove water, when you remove medical aid and food itself from civilian populations.
President Higgins said Israel had been on the receiving end of a horrific attack but he said that does not confer impunity from international law.
"If there is no international law to protect civilians, what world are we to live in, where is multilateralism then?" he said.
Mr Higgins added that there could be no delay with humanitarian corridors when there is a significant loss of life.
He said: "There has to be a ceasefire and serious engagement."
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the bombing of the hospital in Gaza was an atrocity that might yet prove to be a war crime | Read more: https://t.co/ZAy4ZSeSY9 pic.twitter.com/xb69oQdYzG
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) October 18, 2023
The Taoiseach has also said that the hospital blast was an atrocity that might yet prove to be a war crime.
Speaking in the Dáil during Leaders' Questions, he said there has to be an independent investigation to find out who carried out the attack.
Leo Varadkar called for an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages without conditions, the laying down of arms by Hamas and the opening of humanitarian corridors.
He said Israel must also switch back on water and power supplies to Gaza.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said Israel believes it has the right to bomb hospitals.
She told the Dáil the bombing was an atrocity and a violation of international law which demonstrates that nowhere is safe in Gaza.
"We are now bearing witness to human catastrophe on an unimaginable scale," she said.
Call for 'full facts' to be established
Earlier the Tánaiste condemned the strike on the hospital, saying he was appalled by the incident and called for the "full facts" of what happened to be established and "those responsible must be held to account".
Mr Martin said: "The rising toll of civilian casualties and civilian suffering - in Israel and in the occupied Palestinian territories - since Hamas' brutal attack on 7 October is horrifying.
"I echo the UN Secretary General's call for a humanitarian ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid to reach those now in desperate need in Gaza. Humanitarian corridors must be urgently established."
He added: "Hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally. The international community must work urgently to de-escalate this situation."
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Speaking to RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said an investigation should be carried out by the International Criminal Court, which has jurisdiction of Israel and the Occupied Territories.
Attacks on hospitals and civilians infrastructure represent a violation of international law, he said.
He also said it is absolutely vital that water, food and medical supplies are delivered to Gaza as soon as possible.
Mr Martin said the EU has made it clear that there must be adherence to international law and this has been made clear by European Commission President Ursula von der Leydon.
The EU remains the largest donor to the Palestinians, he added.
He also said evacuating Irish citizens in Gaza is dependent on the opening of the crossing at Rafah.
"That is the only effective route out, and so the opening the Rafah crossing involves discussions with the Egyptian authorities and the Israeli authorities," Mr Martin said.
Speaking before the European Parliament in Strasbourg, she said the overnight explosion that hit the hospital turned it into "a hell of fire".
Read more:
Biden heads to Israel amid fury over Gaza hospital blast
'Shame on humanity' - Jordan cancels summit after blast
Meanwhile, the head of the World Health Organization said the situation in Gaza is spiralling out of control.
Writing on X, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: "We need violence on all sides to stop."
"Every second we wait to get medical aid in, we lose lives. We need immediate access to start delivering life-saving supplies."
Health authorities in Gaza said an Israeli air strike caused the blast while Israel's military attributed it to a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group.
Israel's military said today it had seen no evidence of a direct hit on the hospital.
A military spokesperson told journalists that there was no structural damage to buildings around the Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital and no craters consistent with an air strike.
The spokesperson accused Hamas of inflating the number of casualties from the explosion and said it could not know as quickly as it claimed what caused the blast.
Israel said it was a result of a failed rocket launch by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another militant group in the enclave. The spokesperson added that some 450 rockets fired from Gaza have fallen short and landed inside the strip in the last 11 days.
Reuters could not independently verify who was responsible for the blast.
Additional reporting Sandra Hurley, Mícheál Lehane
