Former president of Ireland Mary Robinson has called for an international "coalition of peace" in order to solve the Gaza conflict.
Mrs Robinson, who currently chairs a group of experienced former politicians known as The Elders, said that the current solution being applied by Israel in the region is a "military" one, which will not bring peace.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, she said: "There is a need for a vision of peace, for an actual peace plan and this building of a coalition, a new coalition for peace, to deliver that plan because we have to see a way forward and that would influence and should influence what Israel is doing at the moment.
"What Israel is doing at the moment is a military solution...that is not a way to try to bring about safety, either for Israelis or Palestinians.
"It's very destructive, it's disproportionate, and it's without a plan. That's why it's necessary, and the United States have the responsibility, and they are the influential country.
"They have been backing Israel, backing it too much in the sense of not putting enough conditions on how Israel would respond to the horrendous attacks of Hamas, which we (The Elders) condemned in our earlier statement."
Mrs Robinson, who is also the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the world and the EU has been "complicit" in allowing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to drive a wedge between Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah, meaning Israel has no one to deal with on a two-state solution.
On Gaza's future, Mrs Robinson said it has to be part of a Palestinian-run state, but that Hamas and Fatah, which runs the West Bank, are "two elements" that need to come together.
She added: "What prime minister Netanyahu has done all during his time as prime minister with various coalitions and now with the very right-wing coalition is divide Hamas and Fatah.
"That was his way of having, as he said, no partner to deal with and in many ways, American governments were complicit in this and the EU was complicit in this."
Mrs Robinson called for a real political effort in order to change the current situation in Gaza.
She added: "If people believe that there is a peace plan with a solid coalition behind it, it will change things of what's happening now.
"What's happening now is deadly and awful and shocking for people to even look at on television sets, never mind, endure in Gaza and endure in the pain of the families of hostages, so we have to have a a real political effort."
