Violence in Palestine and Israel must de-escalate, the Taoiseach Micheál Martin said this afternoon.

The Taoiseach released a short video message today on Twitter concerning the recent “appalling violence in the Middle East”.

“Like you, and many others across the world, I’ve been absolutely horrified at the terrible violence in the Middle East over the course of the last week,” he said.

“And the Irish Government position is clear: we call on all sides to de-escalate and to stop the violence. The innocent killing of civilians and children is truly appalling.

“Whether it’s the indiscriminate firing of rockets by Hamas, or the wholly disproportionate response by Israeli government forces. It simply has to stop. The world is appalled as it watches on at the killing of so many innocent civilians.

“It must stop - and it must stop now.”

As of this morning, a total of 197 people have died in Gaza - including at least 58 children - according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. In addition, 1,235 Palestinians have been injured. The Israeli Defense Forces said that ten Israelis have been killed by rockets fired from Gaza.

On Saturday, a building with offices for international media companies such as Al Jazeera and the Associated Press was hit by an Israeli airstrike.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that it was “a perfectly legitimate target”.

“One of the, I think, AP journalists said we were lucky to get out. No, you weren't lucky to get out. It wasn't luck. It's because we took special pains to call people in those buildings, to make sure that the premises were vacated,” he added.

In a statement, AP said that they were: “shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing AP's bureau and other news organizations in Gaza”.