Fatma Zehra Solmaz
26 April 2026•Update: 26 April 2026
ISTANBUL
Ireland and several other countries will seek compensation from Israel after Israeli occupiers demolished a school co-funded by Irish Aid in the occupied West Bank earlier this week, according to Ireland-based media organization The Journal.
“Ireland and partners will call on Israel to reimburse the costs of the Hamamat al-Maleh school,” The Journal reported, quoting a statement issued by Foreign Minister Helen McEntee on Friday.
“My Department will formally demand full reimbursement from the Israeli authorities for the destruction of the EU- and donor-funded school and associated structures,” the statement added.
The West Bank Protection Consortium (WBPC), which receives Irish Aid funding, said Israeli occupiers attacked and destroyed most structures in the Bedouin community of Hamamat al-Maleh in the Jordan Valley on Tuesday evening.
The destruction of the school “is not only unacceptable, it is indefensible," McEntee said, adding: “I am appalled and deeply angered by the reported destruction of homes and critical civilian infrastructure."
“That this community had already been forcibly displaced makes these actions all the more egregious," she stated.
She emphasized that the targeting of vulnerable communities and essential services “represents a grave violation of international humanitarian law and an assault on basic human dignity.”
The school, serving around 60 children, was jointly funded and refurbished with support from Ireland and 11 EU member states—Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden—alongside Canada, the United Kingdom, and the EU’s humanitarian agency DG ECHO.
The Foreign Ministry said that there has been a significant increase in violent Israeli occupiers' activities in the area in recent days.
The compensation request follows earlier efforts by Ireland and its West Bank Protection Consortium partners to recover costs for damaged or seized infrastructure.
In February, they sought €1.7 million (about $1.99 million) in compensation from Israeli authorities for losses since 2015 but have not received any payment.
Local activists and rights groups, including B’Tselem, said occupiers entered Hammamat al-Maleh with bulldozers and demolished the school and other structures.
