The humanitarian situation facing Palestinian people inside Gaza is “abhorrent and unbearable” and aid needs to be allowed into the territory immediately, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has said.
Speaking after a summit of EU leaders, Ms Von der Leyen said Israel needed to let aid flow into Gaza “immediately and unimpeded”.
European leaders remain divided on how best to put pressure on Israel to address the humanitarian conditions in Gaza.
The European Union’s 27 leaders signed off on a joint statement deploring the “dire” humanitarian situation in Gaza, caused by Israel’s ongoing military campaign. The communique went on to criticise the “unacceptable” number of civilians killed and the levels of starvation in the Palestinian enclave.
Negotiations at the EU summit did not bridge the significant difference of opinion in the room about pushing Israel to allow aid into Gaza.
“We cannot remain passive … The union cannot remain inactive,” António Costa, president of the European Council who chairs the summits, said afterwards.
“Nobody can ignore what we watch on TV and what we read in the press; the humanitarian situation in Gaza is completely unacceptable.”
Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Slovenia and others want firmer action from the EU, which could include suspending a free trade deal with Israel, or putting sanctions on hardline Israeli ministers.
Germany, Italy, Austria and others advocate for the bloc to continue to raise its concerns with Israel through diplomatic channels.
Spain’s left-wing prime minister Pedro Sánchez said the EU had put together 18 packages of economic sanctions targeting Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The fact the bloc’s trade deal with Israel had not been suspended despite the “genocide” in Gaza pointed to a double standard, he said.
Suspending the EU-Israel agreement would not improve the situation for Palestinian civilians, said Austrian chancellor Christian Stocker, who spoke with Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu on the phone the day before the summit.
“The civilian population must not pay the price for Hamas terror. Netanyahu has pledged to step up all efforts in this direction so that humanitarian aid can be delivered,” he said.
Renewed focus has been put on the EU’s response to Israel’s invasion of Gaza, which has levelled much of the besieged territory and killed more than 56,000 Palestinians.
Several “like-minded” European countries should move ahead on their own if the EU fails to agree to take action as a bloc, Slovenian prime minister Robert Golob said.
“It is high time that we do not show just solidarity, but we put some real pressure on the Israeli government,” Mr Golob said.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the refusal of some EU states to consider action against Israel to address the “catastrophic” humanitarian crisis in Gaza was “difficult to comprehend”.
A recent EU review concluded Israel had committed human rights violations during its war in Gaza, leading to calls for the bloc to use what leverage it has to push Mr Netanyahu to change course.
It is understood the EU’s foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas was asked to prepare options to take in response to the review to table at a meeting of foreign ministers next month.
The summit also discussed the war in Ukraine, tariff negotiations involving the United States, the ceasefire between Iran and Israel and defence spending.
Slovakia’s populist prime minister Robert Fico threatened to withhold support for a further package of sanctions on Russia, which needs unanimous approval, if he did not get concessions on new EU proposals to phase out reliance on Russian gas.
Separately, Hungary’s far-right prime minister Viktor Orban said he would continue to block Ukraine moving forward in its bid to join the EU.
Brussels started what will be years-long negotiations with Kyiv last June to consider accepting Ukraine into the 27-state bloc, but Hungary has since vetoed the process moving forward.
Speaking before the summit, Mr Orban said he did not want Ukraine to advance into more detailed accession talks while it remained at war with Russia.
“If we integrate [Ukraine] into the European Union, we would integrate the war and we would not like to be together in a community with one country who is at war,” he said.
