EU MUST ACT NOW

Countries expected to block Irish proposals. Taoiseach critical of Israeli government

- LOUISE BURNE

TAOISEACH Micheal Martin has said it is "incomprehensible Europe does not seem to be in a position to put pressure and leverage on Israel to stop this war in Gaza".

He also suggested that Europe needed to follow other countries’ steps to sanction individual ministers, noting that the UK, Norway and Canada had further sanctions against settlers in the West Bank and against Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

He made the comments ahead of an EU Council Meeting in Brussels yesterday where it was expected that some countries would block Ireland's attempts to sanction Israel.

Mr Martin said that there must be European action to try and stop the war.