On Friday, 5 April, the European Commission indicated in an official statement that it had taken note of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement about opening additional access points for humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, following his telephone call with US President Joe Biden on Thursday, 4 April.
This exchange led, in particular, to commitments to open the Ashdod port as well as the Erez crossing so as to allow aid to be channelled directly to the northern Gaza Strip and to increase deliveries from Jordan.
The European Commission called for these measures to be implemented “swiftly and fully” and reiterated its plea to protect innocent civilians and humanitarian workers in accordance with international humanitarian law.
It also called on all players in the region “to urgently enable a significant surge in the in-flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza”.
By way of reminder, the institution stated that the EU had increased its financial and humanitarian support to the Palestinian people and, to date, had launched 44 flights—transporting almost 2,000 tonnes of aid—as part of its ‘EU Humanitarian Air Bridge’ operation. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)