Taoiseach Simon Harris has described Israel's ongoing Rafah offensive as "utterly reprehensible", stating that the continued bombing of Gaza was in clear violation of a ruling made by the International Court of Justice on Friday.
Harris told reporters in Wicklow that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needed to desist immediately from the offensive.
"The fact that Netanyahu persists in ignoring it (the ICJ ruling) is a cause of grave concern," Harris told reporters on Saturday.
"We here in Ireland took a decision this week along with Norway and Spain to recognise the state of Palestine and we did so to keep the hope and the destination of the two-state solution alive whilst others are seeking to really bomb that into oblivion."
He added that the Israeli offensive "absolutely needs to stop."
Harris also criticized the treatment of Sonya McGuinness, Ireland's Ambassador to Israel, who was summoned to the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry and reprimanded over Ireland's decision to recognize Palestine.
"The way that our ambassador in Israel was treated this week is utterly unacceptable. It is not normal diplomatic practice to parade ambassadors in front of cameras and video them whilst watching a film," Harris said.
"And that's not how Ireland treats ambassadors based here and we never would. We don't expect our ambassadors across the world to be treated like that.
"It's just unacceptable. we've conveyed this in the strongest possible and appropriate terms to the Israeli government."
In a separate column in the Journal, Harris said Ireland had recognized a Palestinian state to move toward a two-state solution before that possibility was "bombed to oblivion".
Harris also called on Netanyahu to "listen to the world" and stop the bombing of Gaza, adding that a "full-scale military operation in Rafah will be a catastrophe."
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