Israel said Sunday it will close its embassy in Ireland as relations soured over the war in Gaza, where Palestinian medical officials said fresh Israeli airstrikes killed more than 30 people, including several children.

The decision to close the embassy in Dublin has come 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, that it would recognize a Palestinian state.

The Irish cabinet decided last week to intervene formally in the case of South Africa against Israel before the International Court of Justice, which accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Israel denies the charges.

"We are concerned that a very narrow interpretation of what constitutes genocide will lead to a culture of impunity in which the protection of civilians is minimized," Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin said in a statement

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar's statement on the embassy closure said "Ireland has crossed all red lines in its relations with Israel".

Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris called the decision to close the embassy "deeply regrettable". He added of X: "I totally reject the claim that Ireland is anti-Israel. Ireland is pro-peace, pro-human rights and pro-international law."

Children, journalist killed in Gaza

Israeli forces continued to pound largely isolated northern Gaza on Sunday as the Palestinian death toll in the war neared 45,000.

An airstrike hit the Khalil Aweida school in the city of Beit Hanoun, killing at least 15 people, according to the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital, where casualties were reported.

The dead included two fathers and their daughter, as well as a father and his son, the hospital said.

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

"We woke up with the strike. I woke up with the rubble on top of me," said a bandaged Yahia al-Yazji, who was mourning his wife and daughter. He added that his wife was three months pregnant.

The Israeli 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 in central Gaza killed a Palestinian journalist working for Al Jazeera, Ahmed al-Lawh, a hospital and Qatari television station, said.

The strike came to a head for Gaza's civil defense agency in Nuseirat urban refugee camp, Al-Awda Hospital said. Three civil protection workers were also killed, including the head of the agency in Nuseirat, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital. The Civil Defense is the main rescue agency in Gaza and operates under the Hamas government.

The war in Gaza began after Hamas and other Gazan militants stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostages.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed nearly 45,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry. The ministry's tally does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, but says more than half of the dead have been women and children.