On Tuesday 22 July, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Council, António Costa, and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, strongly condemned the situation in the Gaza Strip on the X social network. According to the United Nations, several dozen Palestinian civilians were killed by the Israeli army last Saturday and Sunday as they tried to receive humanitarian aid.
“Civilians cannot be targets. Never. The images from Gaza are unbearable. The EU reiterates its call for the free, safe and swift flow of humanitarian aid. And for the full respect of international and humanitarian law. Civilians in Gaza have suffered too much for too long. It must stop now. Israel must deliver on its pledges”, said Ms von der Leyen.
António Costa also denounced a situation in Gaza that was “intolerable”.
“The killing of civilians seeking aid in Gaza is indefensible”, said Ms Kallas.
International declaration. On Monday 21 July, ministers from 20 EU countries (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden), as well as the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, issued a joint statement denouncing the aid distribution model adopted by the Israeli government, “which deprives Gazans of human dignity”.
“It is horrifying that more than 800 Palestinians have been killed trying to get aid”, said the signatories, who include the European Commissioner for Equality, Crisis Preparedness and Management, Hadja Lahbib, but not the EU High Representative.
“The High Representative continues to convey these messages to the Israeli Minister [of Foreign Affairs]”, Gideon Sa’ar, argued the spokespersons for the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the European Commission to justify Ms Kallas’ signature being absent.
Impact of the EU-Israel agreement of 10 July. At midday on Tuesday, several journalists asked these spokespersons about the practical implementation of the agreement signed on 10 July between the EU and Israel, which is supposed to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid.
The spokespersons reaffirmed that certain commitments had begun to be implemented, but stressed that much remained to be done.
“The High Representative [of the Union] is exerting pressure on the Israeli Foreign Minister as part of the channels being open and as part of diplomacy”, said the EEAS spokesperson Anouar El Anouni.
Although the European External Action Service is due to report every 15 days to the ambassadors of the EU Member States meeting within the Political and Security Committee (PSC) on any improvements in the situation in the enclave, the next meeting of the European foreign affairs ministers is not due to take place until the end of August, during the Gymnich in Copenhagen.
“Time is of the essence and we are acting accordingly”, assured Mr El Anouni.
“All options remain on the table if Israel does not deliver on its pledges”, Ms Kallas said at the same time on X, shortly after another telephone exchange with Gideon Sa’ar.
The EU representatives are expecting “tangible” progress on a number of fronts: improvement of access roads, opening of new crossing points, significant increase in the number of trucks (compared with 80 per day in recent days and around 20 in recent weeks, 500 lorries were entering the enclave every day during the winter ceasefire), fuel supplies, protection of humanitarian workers, mechanisms for monitoring distributions, and repair of vital infrastructure (generators, power lines, water pipe networks). (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit with Camille-Cerise Gessant)