UN urges restraint, warns airstrikes and rocket attacks could ignite wider conflict in Middle East

Taoiseach Simon Harris condemned the “despicable” attack in which 30 people were killed.

LAST UPDATE | 28 Jul 2024

THE UNITED NATIONS has urged Israel display “maximum restraint” after a rocket attack in the annexed Golan Heights and an airstrike on a school in Gaza yesterday.

Israel yesterday launched strikes on a school which was being used as shelter by almost 4,000 displaced Palestinians, killing 30 people and injuring more than 100 others, according to a number of Gazan agencies.

According to the UN’s Humanitarian Agency, almost 200,000 people had been displaced in Khan Younis and Deir al Balah, where the strike took place, in the last week.

The Israeli military claimed it had evidence that Hamas were operating in the area and were targeting the militia group’s “compounds”.

Taoiseach Simon Harris condemned the “despicable” attack, saying that those responsible must be held accountable.

“Innocent children were killed yesterday while playing football in the Golan Heights in a despicable attack,” he said.

“In the hours and days ahead, it is the duty of all involved to de-escalate tensions to prevent any further bloodshed and loss of innocent lives in the Middle East.”

Tánaiste Micheál Martin said that he is “horrified” by yesterday’s attacks in Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights and Deir al Balah in Gaza.

“I urge all parties, states and entities to urgently de-escalate this enormously dangerous situation that could ignite a wider regional conflict,” he said.

The EU’s foreign Commission Josep Borrell condemned the “bloodbath” and called for an independent investigation.

Later, Iran-backed rebel group Hezbollah – who operate out of southern Lebanon – launched a rocket attack on a football field, killing 10 people and injuring at least 20 others, in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, according to the Israeli Defence Forces.

Hezbollah has denied that it launched the attack.

The Commander of the UN Peacekeeping mission in the Golan Heights Lt. Gen. Aroldo Lázaro and Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the NU’s Lebanon coordinator, have said the exchanges need to stop.

“It could ignite a wider conflagration that would engulf the entire region in a catastrophe beyond belief,” they said in a joint statement yesterday.

A spokesperson for the Gaza civil defence agency, told the AFP news agency that many people had been displaced again yesterday as the Israeli operation continued.

But with large parts of Khan Yunis “not suitable for living” and “no other options available”, civilians have struggled to find safety, they said.

The evacuation orders and “intensified hostilities” have “significantly destabilised aid operations”, the UN said, reporting “dire water, hygiene and sanitation conditions” in the Palestinian territory.

Egyptian state-linked media said Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators are to meet with Israeli negotiators in the latest push for a Gaza truce, which critics of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have accused him of blocking.

The latest mediation efforts have focused on a ceasefire and hostage release accompanied by increased aid flows into besieged Gaza and the freeing of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.