BRUSSELS (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said that “the European Union can exert political and diplomatic pressure on Israel to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.”
Today, the most urgent thing is to make these ambulances enter or receive the wounded people, he said in a press release issued on Monday.
“The European Union is supporting the mediation efforts by Egypt, by the United States and by Qatar, who are the ones in charge of this mediation process. If they do not manage to get it, it is going to be very difficult that someone else can do it.”
“First thing is ceasefire, the release of hostages, and then an agreement in order to deploy the civilian staff – which are ready to come, could come and be deployed.”
He further warned of turning Gaza into the Mogadishu or the Haiti in the Mediterranean.
He also pointed out that the European Union is studying a proposal to impose sanctions on two Israeli government ministers for hate speech.
On the other hand, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said that ending the 11-month-old war in the Gaza Strip and averting a full-blown regional conflict is an absolute and urgent priority.
States must not – cannot – accept blatant disregard for international law, including binding decisions of the Security Council and orders of the International Court of Justice, neither in this nor any other situation, he said.
