Written answers

Tuesday, 23 September 2014

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Foreign Conflicts

Photo of Caoimhghín Ó CaoláinCaoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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424. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the steps he is taking to have Israel held to account for war crimes against the innocent attending or sheltering in clearly marked UN-run schools in Gaza over the period of its onslaught against the population of Gaza during the months of July and August, resulting in those specific cases in the deaths of 45 people, including 17 children; if he protested to the Israeli ambassador to Ireland on behalf of the people of Ireland and on what terms. [35703/14]

Photo of Charles FlanaganCharles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The UN agency UNRWA runs some 252 schools in Gaza, located in 130 buildings throughout the Strip. During the recent conflict, most of these schools were used to provide shelter to large numbers of civilians who were fleeing from other areas. Some 111 schools were damaged in the conflict, in most cases from the effects of impacts nearby. However, in seven cases it appears that school premises were directly hit by fire, leading to large numbers of casualties among people sheltering there, including children. It is likely in most cases, and certain in some, that missiles or artillery shells fired by Israeli forces were responsible. In at least one case however, Israel stated that its forces had not been involved, and that the blast resulted from a missile, fired from Gaza towards Israel, dropping short in Gaza itself. This is not an unknown occurrence, and we have no means ourselves at this point of ascertaining exactly what happened. Nor do we know if incidents of schools being hit by Israeli fire were intentional or not, although in some cases at least it seems likely that the school was the intended target. It is also necessary to be clear that in a number of cases UNRWA itself discovered rockets and other weapons hidden in school buildings without its knowledge. In each case UNRWA disposed of the munitions and made public the facts. Such incidents do not of course justify in any way any subsequent attacks on schools housing refugees, nor does there seem to have been any correlation between the two. It is however an indication of the complexities involved.

The UN Human Rights Council has established an investigative panel to examine all of these alleged or apparent abuses of human rights or breaches of international law. We support such an investigation, and will give it every possible assistance. I hope very much that the panel will be able to determine the truth of what happened in these cases. I would urge the Israeli authorities to cooperate fully with the panel.

On behalf of the Government, I clearly and consistently condemned the causing of large scale civilian casualties during the conflict, including attacks on schools and shelters. On 25 July I spoke directly with the Israeli Ambassador, following which I issued a statement including as follows:

“I expressed my own deep disquiet and the grave concerns of the Irish Government and people at the escalation of violence in Gaza and at yesterday’s latest atrocity which saw an UN-run school hit and at least 15 civilians killed and more than 200 wounded, including many children. Such attacks on civilian institutions such as schools and hospitals are utterly unacceptable, contrary to international law and must stop immediately.”
At my direction, similar concerns were also expressed by the Irish Ambassador directly to the Foreign Ministry in Tel Aviv.

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