File photo- Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin. AFP
Asked what Israel’s aim might be in demanding that UNIFIL peacekeepers leave their bases after a series of attacks, Martin said: “essentially to drive the eyes and ears out of south Lebanon and to give itself free rein,” the AP reported.
“We cannot have an undermining and a chipping away of the status or the credibility or structures of the United Nations and particularly its peacekeeping forces,” Martin said in Luxembourg, where EU foreign ministers are meeting.
“We see what’s happening in northern Gaza, for example, in terms of the necessity of eyes and ears on the ground. The world has really no full picture of what’s happening in Gaza,” he told reporters.
Martin added that “Israel is essentially now undermining (not only) the United Nations and the United Nations peacekeeping force, but the very rules-based international order, and it needs to step back.”
He called on his EU counterparts “to stand up now on the side of what’s right and proper and moral in terms of humanity.”
Simultaneously, the European Union condemned attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon.
Sixteen EU countries are contributing to the UNIFIL peacekeeping force. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that “their work is very important. It’s completely unacceptable to attack United Nations troops.”
Five peacekeepers have been wounded in attacks that struck their positions, with most blamed on Israeli forces.
Speaking in Luxembourg before chairing talks between EU foreign ministers, Borrell underlined that the U.N. Security Council decides whether UNIFIL should be moved, “so stop blaming Secretary Guterres,” according to the AP.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called for UNIFIL to heed Israel’s warnings to evacuate.
In a video addressed to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who has been banned from entering Israel, Netanyahu told the UN chief “to get (UNIFIL) out of the danger zone.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday condemned Netanyahu's for the force to pull back, stressing that "there will be no withdrawal of UNIFIL" from south Lebanon.
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, whose country is one of Europe’s strongest backers of Israel, said the attacks are “simply unacceptable” and that UNFIL will not be leaving.
Ireland has repeatedly condemned the Israeli war on Gaza.
In March, Ireland, Spain and Norway formally recognized a Palestinian state in a coordinated decision.
After Ireland's government formally approved the measure, Prime Minister Simon Harris said the aim was to keep "the miracle of peace alive," urging Israel to stop the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
The Israeli war on Gaza has killed nearly 43,000 and wounded more than 100,000 since 7 October 2023.
Israeli airstrikes have destroyed most of the strip and left 90 percent of the 2.3 million population homeless.
An Israeli blockade on water, food, and medicine also left most ofthe population on the verge of starvation.
In recent days, an intensive Israeli blockade and bombing campaign in northern Gaza killed hundreds and left hundreds of thousands in near famine conditions.
Meanwhile, in Lebanon, Israel airstrikes killed nearly 2,300 and wounded more than 10,000 since 8 October 2023.
The recent intensive Israeli bombing of Lebanon has killed more than 1,600 and drove more than 1.2 million from their homes.
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