The European Union’s High Representative for Security and Foreign Policy, Kaja Kallas, has called on EU member states to press Israel over the significant civilian casualties, in particular children, and the dire humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. The steps to be taken were outlined by the EU’s chief diplomat during a debate in the European Parliament on 18 June on the situation in Gaza.
Kaja Kallas first recalled that Israel launched its operation in Gaza as a response to the “worst terrorist attack” in Israel’s history by Hamas militants (recognised as terrorist in the EU and the US) on 7 October 2023.
“Israel has the right to self-defence, but what we see in practice from Israel goes beyond self-defence. We have made it clear that blocking food and medicine to Palestinians trapped in Gaza does not protect Israel,” Callas noted and revealed that three warehouses have recently opened in Gaza, but only one of them is now accepting new shipments of humanitarian aid, while civilians queuing for food are coming under fire.
“Reports yesterday that Israeli troops have killed more than 50 Palestinians, people waiting for flour at humanitarian sites in Gaza are shocking. Every day of this war alienates humanity. Enough is enough!” said the EU High Representative.
“Our task as the European Union is not to cry, but to ask ourselves what we can do in response,” Callas said, “we must put pressure on Israel.
She called on EU countries to step up the pressure by renegotiating the Association Agreement with Israel. Kallas said most EU foreign ministers supported a review of the agreement and a check on Israel’s compliance with Article 2 obligations, which require respect for human rights.
She also called for more humanitarian aid for the Palestinians and rejected Israeli arguments that aid could be misused by malicious actors. “The answer to threats to use aid as a weapon is not to block aid, but to send a quantity of aid to the region that cannot be used for malicious purposes,” Callas said.
The EU diplomatic chief reiterated the EU’s commitment to the two-state solution, which she said would ensure a just and sustainable peace for both peoples. She also stressed the need for international mobilisation to support this approach. “The two-state solution is the right way forward and one that will always be so. It is the only way to achieve a just and sustainable peace for Israelis and Palestinians,” Callas noted.
She also called for pressure on Hamas to hand over the leadership of the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority, emphasising the importance of international unity in resolving the conflict.
Hamas militants invaded Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages. in response, Israel launched a military operation in the Gaza Strip, stating as a goal the release of hostages and the elimination of Hamas. According to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 50,000 people have been victims of Israeli attacks in the Strip. There is no independent confirmation of this data, nor are these statistics broken down into armed and civilian casualties.