IRELAND’S CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP has described Israel’s war on Gaza as “merciless” and that it is a “disproportionate” response to Hamas’ attack in October 2023.

He also roundly condemned increasing global expenditure on militaries. 

In a New Year’s message, Archbishop Eamon Martin said there is a “long and shameful” list of ongoing instances of humanity “inflicting the horrors and brutality of war”.

As well as Palestine and the wider Middle East, he pointed to the conflicts in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Yemen, Myanmar, and Ukraine.

“In the past 15 months, for example, we have witnessed not only the egregious 7th October 2023 terror attacks by Hamas and Islamic Jihad on Israel, including the taking of hostages – 100 of whom are still held captive in Gaza – but we have also seen a merciless and disproportionate response by Israel,” Martin said.

“Over 45,000 people including 17,000 children have been cut down; two million people forcibly displaced; almost the entire population of Gaza is living in extreme hunger, and despite the reality of catastrophic famine conditions for hundreds of thousands of desperate civilians, humanitarian access is effectively blocked,” he said in his statement.

“International Humanitarian Law says that parties to a conflict cannot use disproportionate measures to achieve military objectives. The near-complete destruction of Gaza, and the bringing of its population to the brink of famine is, by any standard, a disproportionate measure.”

The Archbishop said that he was highlighting Gaza not only because of the severe impacts but also because it represented the failure of the international community to prevent the escalation of conflict and to protect civilians – despite rulings by the International Court of Justice on protection from genocide, on illegal occupation of Territories and on systemic discrimination.

“I am conscious that people who have expressed similar views to these have been accused of antisemitism. I wish to put it on record, once again, that I abhor the violations by Hamas and other Islamist militant groups against the people of Israel, and that I fully support the right of Israelis to live in peace and security,” Martin said.

“This right has to be achieved in the context of a just peace, where the legitimate rights of Palestinians are also protected in line with international law.”

He also said that the world needs to “cry out for forgiveness for spending: (in 2023) an estimated US$2.5 trillion on armaments and military resources – an amount that has since been increasing, not decreasing”.

“Such expenditure cannot be reconciled with our Christian commitment to reconciliation and peace, or with the beliefs of any of the world’s major faiths and religions, or with secular principles of the common good and the flourishing of humanity,” he said.