Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he believes the EU-Israeli Association Agreement should be suspended pending a review.
Yesterday, the EU agreed to review its cooperation deal with Israel, after a clear majority of member states supported a Dutch proposal to do so.
Seventeen EU states pressed for the review at yesterday's Brussels meeting under Article two of the agreement that calls for a respect for human rights. Nine member states opposed the initiative: Germany, Hungary, Italy, Czechia, Croatia, Cyprus, Lithuania, Greece and Bulgaria.
Mr Martin said he "expects" that the review of the cooperation agreement takes place "expeditiously" and includes "meaningful conclusions".
Speaking during Dáil statements on the situation in Gaza, he said "after 19 months... I believe we are at a turning point".
He urged "Israel to listen, not just in the interests of Gaza but in our own interests" and described the situation in Gaza as "absolutely appalling and barbaric".
Mr Martin said Israel is taking part in "a clear violation of its international obligations", saying "there can be no occupation of the strip by Israel, and no one can say they did not know the plan".
He said there is absolutely no justification for what is occurring in Gaza, adding that Israel's persecution of the war is causing "immense death, destruction and suffering to an entire population".
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said that Israel's actions are not only wrong, but criminal and genocidal.
Western governments which support Israel are complicit in this, she said.
"They are protecting Israel from any meaningful sanctions, and they are continuing to fund and sell arms to Israel."
"Weasel words and carefully crafted platitudes" from the Government are not enough, Ms McDonald said.
She condemned as "an obscenity" and "repulsive" the "fact of the Irish Central Bank oversees the sale of Israeli war bonds right across the EU".
Major Western powers 'protecting Israel' from meaningful sanctions, says McDonald
She said that if the Government is serious about "ending the clear barbarism", then it will back a Sinn Féin bill calling for an end to the bank's role in the sale of those bonds.
"And yet, when I raised this with the Taoiseach yesterday, his response was to call our legislation repulsive," Ms McDonald said. "That's the word he used".
Mr Martin denied the charge from Ms McDonald that he had described as "repulsive" the tabling of that Sinn Féin bill.
"You said the Government was funding a genocide, and I said that phrase was morally repugnant".
"It was a smear against me", he said and called on Ms McDonald to withdraw the remark.
Ms McDonald said she "cannot withdraw it" as the word "repulsive" was used.
Labour TD Duncan Smith said that the EU reviewing its agreement with Israel feels like "a day late and a dollar short".
"Perhaps, just perhaps, the international tide is turning," he said, but warned that the UN Security Council is "broken".
He called on Ireland to act and ensure that the UN provides a humanitarian corridor and a peacekeeping force.
"We need to be engaging with international sporting bodies" and with the Eurovision Song Contest, to push for Israel to be excluded, he said.
Tánaiste to bring memo to Cabinet on Occupied Territories Bill
Meanwhile, Tánaiste Simon Harris confirmed that he will bring a memo to the Cabinet next week on the long-awaited Occupied Territories Bill.
Mr Harris said: "The Irish people are asking and the world is asking, what does it take for the world to do more."
Mr Harris said the world has in his view "now reached a moment of clarity", saying he wanted to be clear that he believes Hamas has "brought nothing but death and destruction" to people in Gaza and that hostages should be released.
However, he stressed that the "warnings of death are ringing in our ears" due to Israel's actions in Gaza.
He said "what is happening goes against our humanity" and that it is "repugnant".
"It is in contradiction of human rights under international law," he said.
The bill has been delayed for a number of months amid ongoing Government concerns involving whether it would survive potential legal cases, and has been sought for an equal amount of time by those who say it is now needed.
Mr Harris said "we want a bill that will withstand" potential legal cases and "we want a bill that will have an impact".
He said the taking of land on by Israeli settlers is "illegal under international law" and is "meticulously planned Israeli government policy".
Pointing out the reality of his comments, Mr Harris gave the example of how "three months ago four Irish aid trucks arrived in Jordan, these trucks today remain in a warehouse in Jordan while people starve".
He concluded his remarks by saying "the cruelty" in Gaza must stop and that the situation there is an "Israeli government engaged in war crimes".
Labour calls on Government to table resolution at UN
Labour's leader meanwhile has called on the Government to press the issue of Gaza at the United Nations.
Ms Bacik said there are no words to describe the horror that Israel is inflicting upon the people of Gaza, adding that "the wickedness of starving children" cannot be overstated.
"Ours is a small country, but we have fierce diplomatic power," Ms Bacik said.
She said Ireland and countries around the world have a moral obligation to do more.
She said every step would be taken to stop the preventable death of infants, if they were from Ireland.
"'[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's campaign was always driven by a plan to displace and exterminate," she said. "This is devastation, and the UN is failing in all our names."
Ms Bacik said that Labour would be tabling a motion next week calling for collective measures by the UN to bring a lasting ceasefire and to send peacekeeping troops.
She said the Government must "table an emergency resolution at the UN General Assembly to note the failure of the Security Council and call for collective measures to secure a lasting ceasefire and an international peacekeeping force for Gaza to allow humanitarian aid to flow and save lives".
Mr Martin said he agreed with Ms Bacik's presentation of what is "an absolutely barbaric and appalling situation in Gaza".
"It is simply wrong in principle and in law to inflict hunger and suffering on a civilian population whatever the circumstances and this behaviour constitutes a war crime," he said.
He said he saw the comments by Israel's Finance Minister Smotrich who spoke about taking over Gaza.
"He said it was absolutely reprehensible."
The Taoiseach said hostages also needed to be released and said the 7 October attacks by Hamas were also barbaric. Mr Martin said there needed to be a ceasefire and a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Ms Bacik, meanwhile, praised Ireland's leadership on Gaza, but said what Israel was doing with impunity had to stop.
"Ireland has to do more at international level and here at home," she said.
In response, the Taoiseach said Ireland's response has been "more than just words", pointing to significant aid sent by Ireland to UNRWA.
Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon said the "EU found its backbone when Putin invaded Ukraine".
"But when Israel commits atrocities in broad daylight we hesitate."
Solidarity-PBP TD Ruth Coppinger said that the Government is continuing with "business as usual", and the EU is sitting on its hands while "zilch" is being done "about Israel".
The Government can "stop Central Bank bonds being processed in Ireland," she added.
Solidarity-PBP TD Paul Murphy said that Government has "good strong words of criticism" of Israel, but he asked, "what actions do you take?"
He claimed that the Government is not acting to stop genocide.
Green TD Roderic O'Gorman said that ten months ago he got legal advice, when in government, that passing the Occupied Territories Bill would be possible with some ammendments.
He asked what legal advice the Government is using in its approach to the bill.
Meanwhile, Independent TD Brian Stanley said that Israel is a terrorist state, whose government has stopped to a level of depravity never seen before.
A lot of obstructions to aid in Gaza, UN spokesperson says
Meanwhile, the deputy spokesperson with OCHA, the UN's humanitarian office, has said systems to get aid into Gaza are overly complicated and a lot of obstructions are being put in place.
Jens Laerke said that the latest information is that no aid has reached those who need it.
Mr Laerke described the aid situation in Gaza at present as "tragic" saying that time is running out, and that aid organisations do not know how long Israel will allow aid to enter the enclave.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, he said the aid has not made it past the border because other trucks from inside Gaza need to drive to the crossing point and pick the aid up.
However, these trucks were not given clearance to pick up the aid, he said.
He said that aid agencies will try again today with more trucks needed on both sides.
He added that the clock is ticking, however, and there is an immediate need to get the aid out of the transit point.
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Trucks with nutrition supplies are being prioritised, he said, particularly baby food.
"There are a lot of babies and children who are malnourished and who will need this for their survival.
"Food and nutrition supplies have been prioritised.
"That is sitting there and needs to get out."
