An incorrect transcript released by Brussels diplomats of Catherine Ashton comparing the Toulouse killings to deaths in Gaza has sparked a row between Europe and Israel, reports the Telegraph.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu attacked foreign affairs chief Ashton's comparison of the "barbarity and inhumanity" of the Toulouse murders of Jewish children to "what is happening in Gaza".

According to the Washington Post, Netanyahu said in a statement that he was incensed by "the parallel between the pinpoint slaughter of children… and the Israeli military's defensive surgical strikes against terrorists who use children as live shields".

The Wall Street Journal reports Israel's foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman as saying Ashton's comments were "not appropriate" and hoped she would re-examine and reverse them.

According to the Irish Times, Ashton told MEPs in Brussels yesterday, "I'm really saddened by the distortion of my remarks.

"I condemn unreservedly the terrible murders at the Ozar Hatorah school in Toulouse yesterday and extend my sympathies to the families and friends of the victims, to the people of France and to the Jewish community," she said.

A new transcript was released by officials 12 hours after the diplomatic row broke out, showing that Ashton had also mentioned the plight of Israelis in the southern Israeli city of Sderot which was hit by Palestinian rocket attacks.