In final push, EU's Borrell targets Israel

As Josep Borrell's five-year term as the EU's top foreign envoy comes to a close, the Spaniard is making a final attempt to push the bloc to leverage its trade ties with Israel over the Gaza situation, though it may prove unsuccessful, News.Az reports citing Deutsche Welle.

In the run-up to his final foreign ministers' meeting next Monday, Borrell proposed to member states that they suspend dialogue with Israel in the context of the free trade deal that sets the contours of their relationship.

"It's up to the ministers to see… whether they agree and proceed or not, " Borrell's spokesperson Peter Stano told reporters in Brussels on Thursday, recalling that the move would require unanimity. Crucially, Borrell will ask foreign ministers to discuss whether Israel is violating international humanitarian law in Gaza and act accordingly, Stano added.

In October 2023, Israel launched a massive aerial, naval and land offensive in the Palestinian territory to wipe out Hamas, which controls Gaza, after the militant group carried out terrorist attacks that killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel and seized dozens of hostages.

Since then, more than 43,000 people have been killed and 103,000 wounded, according to the latest toll from the Gaza Health Ministry, which is controlled by Hamas but deemed by the UN to provide broadly reliable figures.

Last week, the UN Human Rights Office said that 70% of the 8,000 fatalities in Gaza it had been able to verify were women and children. The body spoke of "unprecedented levels of killings, death, injury, starvation, illness, disease, displacement, detention and destruction" and accused both the Israeli Defense Forces and Palestinian armed groups of "wanton disregard” for international law.

Israel categorically rejected that report, as it frequently does similar allegations, saying that it failed to accurately reflect reality. The country insists it is acting within international law and has the right to defend itself.

News.Az