The EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, Josep Borrell, has attributed the lack of food and medicines in Gaza to “a failure of humanity.”
Borrell said this as EU leaders met for a two-day summit on Thursday, March 21, 2023.
“What is happening today in Gaza is the failure of humanity, it is not a humanitarian crisis, it is the failure of humanity, it is not an earthquake, it is not a flood, it is bombing,” he noted.
He stated that the only way to stop the humanitarian crisis is Israel respecting more civilians and allowing more support into Gaza.
“Even now we manage to send food to Gaza. People show starving and especially children… they need medicines to be able just to eat because they are starving,” he divulged.
“I hope the council will send a strong message to Israel to stop blocking the food going into Gaza,” he urged.
Additionally, Borrell expressed that he was “happy” that EU member states were going to adopt a declaration on Israel that goes beyond the conclusions in October when they agreed to call for humanitarian pauses in the conflict in the Middle East.
“Today the council goes much further supporting UNWRA, asking for a sustainable ceasefire, and certainly also asking for the the freedom of hostages and needlessly to say condemning the Hamas attack, but showing strong concern for the situation of the people in Gaza which is unacceptable.”
Josep Borrell
The eight paragraph draft text says leaders are “appalled by the unprecedented loss of civilian lives”, condemns Hamas in the “strongest possible terms for its brutal and indiscriminate terrorist attacks” and supports Israel’s right to defend itself.
Paragraph 22 includes significantly hardened language.
It states that the European Council is deeply concerned about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and its disproportionate effect on civilians, particularly children, as well as the imminent risk of famine.
Full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access into and throughout the Gaza Strip via all routes is essential to provide the civilian population with life-saving assistance and basic services at scale.
The draft also noted that European Council welcomes the Amalthea Initiative opening a maritime route for emergency assistance from Cyprus to Gaza, which supplements land routes that remain the main way to deliver the volumes needed.
It stressed that additional land routes and crossings are needed.
Several diplomats have said the text is fragile and may not survive the summit in its present form.
Moreover, Borrell took a side swipe against anyone who suggests that Europe is on the verge of war.
“The calls for European leaders to be aware of the challenges they are facing are good but we don’t have to exaggerate either,” he noted.
“War is not imminent. I’ve heard certain voices say war is imminent. Well, thank God it is not imminent. We live in peace, we support Ukraine, we are not part of this war we just support Ukraine and we have to prepare for the future, augmenting the defence capacity of our industry, but don’t frighten people unneccessarily, war is not imminent. What is imminent is the need to support for Ukraine.”
Josep Borrell
A Right Direction
Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, opined that the draft text of the EU summit potential final conclusions on the Middle East is going in the “right direction.”
He pointed out that it was “the first time there are conclusions on the Middle East since October” when the EU member states argued about whether the text should include a call for a ceasefire, a pause or pauses in the conflict.
“The draft goes in the right direction for Spain” he said, because it “includes a call for a ceasefire and opens the door to humanitarian aid and a peace conference” which Spain has been pushing for.
The Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, also said that the situation in Gaza is “dramatic.”
He asserted, “Europe needs to lead, and not to follow – and it is time for us to be clear, to demand an immediate cease-fire, to demand the liberation of the hostages, and to put everyone on track on negotiations on a two-state solution.”
He also said that Europe must “continue and certainly accelerate our support” to Ukraine.
