Irish premier Michael Martin has strongly condemned the latest Israeli strikes on Gaza, describing them as the “collective punishment” of Palestinians.

He said the “deploring and shocking” bombings have led to the deaths of “so many innocent people”.

The Fianna Fail leader is in Brussels for an EU summit with his European counterparts.

Asked about the latest strikes which hit multiple homes overnight, killing men, women and children as they slept, he said: “These statements yesterday from Israeli leaders, particularly in terms of (defence) Minister (Israel) Katz, seemed to me to amount to collective punishment of the Palestinians within Gaza. It’s quite shocking.

“It needs to stop, and Europe needs to say stop to the killing and to the slaughter that’s going on in Gaza at the moment.

“We do also need a release of all hostages, and we need to move very quickly to phase two of the ceasefire which was originally agreed and which should be complied with.

“But what has to happen now, I think, is that as much pressure as possible from the European Union, US and others, is to say to Israel to stop this bombing.

“There was no warning. Many, many people that come back after the ceasefire to their homes in the expectation that they were going to experience some degree of peace and harmony, and that has been shattered by what appears to be very indiscriminate bombing of Palestinian homes and families.”

I loved the picture from last week in the White House when Martin told Trump in no uncertain terms he was complicit in ethnic cleansing and genocide!