Israeli newspapers bristled on Thursday after the European Parliament president criticized the Gaza Strip blockade and suggested that Israelis received four times more water than Palestinians.

The spat, which erupted on Wednesday after the far-right Jewish Home party stormed out of parliament in protest during a speech by Martin Schultz, made the front pages of Israel's main newspapers.

Most commentators were furious about figures mentioned by Schultz relating to water usage.

"How can it be that an Israeli is allowed to use 70 liters of water per day, but a Palestinian only 17?" Schultz asked.

But he also admitted numbers are not verified.

Shortly afterwards, Schultz criticized settlements as an obstacle to peace and warned that the Gaza blockade could "undermine, rather than strengthen, Israel's security."

This prompted a barrage of heckling from Jewish Home MPs, who then stalked out.

"Jewish Home demands an apology from the president of the European Parliament who repeated two lies fed to him by the Palestinians," Jewish Home Chairman Naftali Bennett said of the water figures and denying there is a blockade on Gaza.

He denounced both assertions as "deceitful propaganda."

Even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waded in, accusing Schultz of being quick to cast blame without checking the facts.

"What was disturbing in Schultz's speech was the selective hearing that is becoming prevalent in many circles in Europe," he said in remarks published on parliament's website.

"These are figures which are not true. [Schultz] said he didn't check the figures but it didn't stop him from straight away casting blame."

The headline in the Israel HaYom freesheet, which is close to Netanyahu, read "Shock in parliament over slander of Israel."

In an interview with German daily Die Welt published on Thursday, Schultz said he was taken aback by the tirade.

AFP