(23 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
New Administrative Capital, Egypt – 23 April 2024
1. Various of meeting between Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister for Defence and Deputy Prime Minister Micheál Martin
2. News conference
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Micheál Martin, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister for Defence and Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland:
"I condemn the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza. I have condemned the unacceptable civilian toll, the women and children that are being killed. It’s unconscionable. Just the night before last, we learned and saw on our screens a family mourning the loss of 18 children. It’s very difficult for me personally as human being to comprehend that level of barbarity. There can be no justification for it, in my view. And I believe that in respect of the mass graves that you have referenced, and I’d have to, obviously do further analysis of that – but again, all of that should be subject to the international humanitarian law."
4. News conference
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Micheál Martin, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister for Defence and Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland:
"Ireland from the outset never paused its support to UNRWA (the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees). In fact, we went in the opposite direction. When the assertions were made, we actually increased our aid to Gaza – sorry to UNRWA by a further 20 million euros at the time to give a signal to other members of the European community and other countries that this was now not the time to pause aid to UNRWA because anybody we speak to who knows anything about it will say to you that UNRWA is indispensable, and is essential not just for providing humanitarian assistance, but also for the reconstruction of Gaza post-conflict."
6. News conference
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Micheál Martin, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister for Defence and Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland:
"It is absolutely essential that we have a ceasefire. It’s also essential that we have a release of all hostages. Unacceptable that hostages are taken in this manner. And again, we have consistently condemned the taking of hostages. And thirdly as I’ve said, the flow of humanitarian aid needs to be unimpeded and needs to be scaled up dramatically. We need a surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza. We’ve discussed the issue of recognition of a Palestinian state, and we had a good discussion on that. And I think we both agreed it’s a very important step in terms of supporting the Palestinian Authority, and supporting Palestinians in their justified ambition and aspiration for self-determination and their own state."
8. News conference
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Sameh Shoukry, Egyptian foreign minister:
"The international conscious cannot bear the continuity of this amount of killing that has reached 34,000 civilian deaths, 20,000 of whom are women and children, as well as the ongoing state of destruction in the (Gaza) Strip to the point that it has become unlivable. There is a need to stop this war and there is a need to work on reaching the two-state solution."
10. Ministers leaving conference
STORYLINE:
Ireland’s top diplomat on Tuesday blasted Israel’s "indiscriminate bombing of Gaza," saying that the civilian toll of its monthslong war against Hamas is "unacceptable."
Speaking at a news conference in Egypt, Foreign Minister Micheál Martin condemned the killing of women and children as "unconscionable."
Martin spoke at a joint news conference at Egypt’s New Administrative Capital with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry.
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