The issue of delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip once again made the agenda of the meeting of European foreign ministers, which was held in Luxembourg on Monday 24 June.
The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, reiterated his support for the three-phase peace plan put forward by US President Joe Biden, being of the opinion that only a ceasefire could guarantee humanitarian assistance for civilians (see EUROPE 13422/11).
“The help is stockpiling out of the border, some of these goods are perishing, they will be destroyed, not used, lost. But the important thing is not the financial value of the things that will be lost, but the fact that they cannot come into [Gaza]. And if they come into [Gaza], it is not possible to distribute them because the lack of any kind of organisation”, lamented Mr Borrell on Monday. He went on to add that “civil society is unravelling”.
On Sunday 23 June, Mr Borrell and the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič had, in a jointly issued statement they described as a “cry of alarm”, already made clear their deep concern at “the collapse of law and order in Gaza”, indicating that the European Union’s humanitarian partners were operating in an “unacceptably unsafe environment”.
“The announcement of temporary ‘tactical pauses’ (see EUROPE 13433/29) for delivering humanitarian assistance has not resulted in any improvement in the security environment for humanitarian actors on the ground”, they added. (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)