Israel will close its Ireland embassy over Gaza tensions as Palestinian death toll nears 45,000

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel said Sunday it will close its embassy in Ireland as relations deteriorated over the war in Gaza, where Palestinian medical officials said new Israeli airstrikes killed over 46 people including several children.

The decision to close the embassy came in response to what Israel’s foreign minister has described as Ireland’s “extreme anti-Israel policies.” In May, Israel recalled its ambassador to Dublin after Ireland announced, along with Norway, Spain and Slovenia, it would recognize a Palestinian state.

The Irish Cabinet last week decided to formally intervene in South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, which accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Israel denies it.

“We are concerned that a very narrow interpretation of what constitutes genocide leads to a culture of impunity in which the protection of civilians is minimized,” said Ireland’s foreign affairs minister, Micheal Martin.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar's statement on the embassy closure said “Ireland has crossed every red line in its relations with Israel.”

Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris called the decision to close the embassy “deeply regrettable.” He added on X: “I utterly reject the assertion that Ireland is anti-Israel. Ireland is pro-peace, pro-human rights and pro-international law.”

Israeli forces continued Sunday to pound Gaza, including the largely isolated north, as the Palestinian death toll in the war approached 45,000.

A large explosion lit up the southern Gaza skyline on Sunday night. An Israeli airstrike hit a school and killed at least 16 people in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital, where the bodies were taken. There was no immediate Israeli military statement.

In the north, an airstrike hit the Khalil Aweida school in the town of Beit Hanoun and killed at least 15 people, according to nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital where casualties were taken. The dead included two parents and their daughter and a father and his son, the hospital said.

And in Gaza City, at least 17 people including six women and five children were killed in three airstrikes that hit houses sheltering displaced people, according to Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.

“We woke up to the strike. I woke up with the rubble on top of me,” said a bandaged Yahia al-Yazji, who grieved for his wife and daughter. "I found my wife with her head and skull visible, and my daughter’s intestines were gone. My wife was three months pregnant.” His hand rested on a body wrapped in a blanket on the floor.

Israel's military in a statement said it struck a “terrorist cell” in Gaza City and a “terrorist meeting point” in the Beit Hanoun area.

Another Israeli airstrike killed a Palestinian journalist working for Al Jazeera, Ahmed al-Lawh, in central Gaza, a hospital and the Qatari-based TV station said.

The strike hit a point for Gaza’s civil defense agency in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp, Al-Awda Hospital said. Also killed were three civil defense workers including the local head of the agency, according to al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital. The civil defense is Gaza's main rescue agency and operates under the Hamas-run government.

One of the bodies was covered with an orange work jacket marked “ambulance” in English.

“We, the civil defense, are carrying out humanitarian work like in any country in the world. Why are we being targeted?” said colleague Kerem Al Dalou.

Israel’s military said it struck a militant command center embedded in the civil defense offices.

The war in Gaza began after Hamas and other militants from Gaza stormed southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking well over 200 hostage.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed almost 45,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry’s count does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, but it says over half of the dead have been women and children.

Most of Gaza's population of over 2 million has been displaced, often multiple times. The hospitals that are still functioning say they lack medicines, fuel and other basic supplies, while aid groups warn of widespread hunger.

The head of the World Food Program, Cindy McCain, told CBS on Sunday that the U.N. agency was able to get just two trucks of supplies into Gaza in November, citing insecurity there.

“We need a ceasefire, and we need it now,” she said. “We can no longer sit by and just allow these people to starve to death.”

Melzer reported from Nahariya, Israel. Associated Press writer Danica Kirka in London contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Palestinians mourn over the bodies of civil defense workers victims of an Israeli army strike in the Nuseirat camp, at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday Dec.16, 2024. Four cicivil defence workers were killed according to Palestinian civil defense and health ministry.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Israelis protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and call for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

Israelis protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and call for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

A dead child is carried into the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah after an Israeli army strike in the Bureij refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, Saturday Dec. 14, 2024.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians pray next to the bodies of their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, at a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians carry the body of a relative killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Authorities in Ohio launched a homicide investigation after the bodies of three women were found Saturday inside a home in Columbus.

Officers were called to a home on the city's south side just before 4 p.m. Saturday for what a 911 caller described as a medical event. Police found three women who were pronounced dead at the scene, according to police spokesman Sgt. James Fuqua.

He said the killings were considered homicides, but he did not have further details, including what led up to the killings.

“Unfortunately, this is a very complex scene with the amount of victims that we have,” he told reporters Saturday. "It’s going to take a little bit longer to make sure that we’re very careful in going through the scene meticulously so we do not miss any key piece of evidence.”

He said investigators were interviewing witnesses and looking for video evidence.

Fuqua said Saturday that no suspects had been taken into custody.

Columbus police did not immediately have an update on the homicides on Sunday.

Columbus Police Department investigate the scene of a homicide on South Ohio Avenue as seen from the intersection of East Mithoff Street and South Ohio Avenue on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio. (Samantha Madar/The Columbus Dispatch via AP)

Columbus Police Department investigate the scene of a homicide on South Ohio Avenue as seen from the intersection of East Mithoff Street and South Ohio Avenue on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio. (Samantha Madar/The Columbus Dispatch via AP)

Columbus Police Department investigate the scene of a homicide on South Ohio Avenue as seen from the intersection of East Mithoff Street and South Ohio Avenue on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio. (Samantha Madar/The Columbus Dispatch via AP)