Israel’s foreign ministry has criticised a speech by Ireland’s incoming prime minister in which he said Israel’s government was acting “disproportionately” in Gaza, Al Jazeera reports.

PM Simon Harris, in his first speech to parliament after being sworn in Tuesday, addressed the Gaza conflict, saying “innocent children, women and men are being starved and slaughtered” in the enclave in what amounted to “disproportionate” military conduct.

Israel’s foreign ministry, reacting to the speech, said Harris must have “forgot to mention” the Israeli captives who are still being held in Gaza by Hamas.

The ministry also accused Harris and Ireland’s foreign minister of rewarding “terrorism” by backing South Africa in its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

“After the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust… there are those in Ireland who persist on being on the wrong side of history,” said the Israeli foreign ministry statement.