Nearly 850 officials from European Union institutions are urging the European Commission to act to prevent the “de facto annihilation of the civilian population of Gaza”, in a letter sent on Tuesday 29 July and copied to Agence Europe.
“Famines do not follow a linear trajectory, but they rather accelerate, often resembling exponential phenomena”, write the European officials. Referring to examples of famines in history (Holodomor in Ukraine in the 1930s, Darfur in 2004) as well as several scientific works, they set out their projections according to which, “without immediate and substantial restoration of aid, Gaza is on course to surpass 100 starvation-related deaths per day within the next two to three weeks, many of them children”. “Crossing this threshold essentially marks a point of no return, where it would likely be unfeasible to prevent the de facto annihilation of the population of Gaza”, they warn.
Describing the EU’s response to this human tragedy caused by Israel as a “litmus test” for the legitimacy of the European project, the signatories called for pressure to be brought to bear on Israel to allow a massive and urgent influx of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
In their view, the proposal to partially suspend Israel’s participation in the Horizon Europe programme has the merit of existing, but it should go much further, in particular by sanctioning Israeli entities and leaders who obstruct humanitarian aid, and by suspending external cooperation (NDICI instrument) and diplomatic relations with this third country.
European civil servants wishing to sign the letter can send an email to EUstafflettersignatures@proton.me.
To see the letter, go to https://aeur.eu/f/i2l (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)