LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg: EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday urged faster aid deliveries to Gaza, and said the bloc was debating calling for a “humanitarian pause” in Israel’s conflict with Hamas.
“What’s important? More, quicker, and in particular to enter the basic things that make water and electricity supply being restored,” Borrell said, ahead of a meeting of European Union foreign ministers.
Borrell said that the few dozen trucks of humanitarian aid that had been allowed into Gaza from Egypt was “not enough” and said fuel to produce power and drinking water was particularly needed.
He said ministers would discuss calls from United Nations’ secretary-general Antonio Guterres for a “humanitarian ceasefire” and the issue would be on the table at an EU leaders summit on Thursday.
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“Personally, I think that a humanitarian pause is needed in order to allow the humanitarian support to come in and be distributed, seeing that half of the population of Gaza has been moving from their houses,” Borrell said.
He said “the attacks of missiles, rockets from Hamas, from Gaza, has to stop and the hostages, people who have been kidnapped, have to be released”.
“It is part of any step towards de-escalation.”
The 27-nation EU bloc has long been split over its policy on Israel and the Palestinians.
It has struggled with conflicting messaging since the surge in violence following the October 7 attack by Hamas and Israel’s reprisals against Gaza. —AFP
