Galway, April 8 (RHC)-- Ireland’s incoming Prime Minister Simon Harris has delivered a clear message to Israel’s Netanyahu, calling for a ceasefire and for aid to “flow safely.”

“Prime Minister Netanyahu, the Irish people could not be clearer.  We are repulsed by your actions,” Harris said in a speech at Gael Ard Fheis University in Galway.  “Anyone who can countenance deliberate starvation has lost their humanity,” Harris added, noting that famine is a “spectre no Irish person can bear.”

Harris, the new leader of the governing Fine Gael party, will be Ireland’s youngest prime minister after the recent unexpected resignation of Leo Varadkar.

In an interview with Sky News, Harris said:  "What we've seen happen in Gaza and the actions of the Israeli government, is utterly reprehensible. It's appalling and it's grotesque."

He added: "And we are seeing children being maimed and killed - innocent children. It is disgusting. It is despicable. And it must stop."

Harris said Ireland "will always speak truth to power" and calls for "an immediate ceasefire".

"The attack on aid workers was particularly, in my view, callous and chilling, and we will continue to call that out.  We also, as a country, stand ready to play our part in a political process that brings about a two-state solution," he noted.