Strasbourg, France (AP) – The European Commission president said Wednesday he would call for sanctions and partial trade halt Israel on the war in GazaAnnouncement marking a sharp turn for longtime supporter of Israel’s prime minister Ursula von der Leyen Benjamin Netanyahu.
The 27 EU countries are deeply divided into approaches to Israel and Palestinians, and it is unclear whether the majority are known to support sanctions and trade measures.
Von Der Leyen adds that the committee will “establish the Palestinamba Group next month,” some of which will focus on future reconstruction of Gaza. She said the events in Gaza and the suffering of children and families are “shaking the conscience of the world.”
The Gaza Ministry of Health says that since international experts announced hunger in Gaza city on August 22, 126 Palestinians, including 26 children, have died of causes related to malnutrition.
“Artificial hunger can never be a weapon of war. For the sake of children, for the sake of humanity. This must stop,” von der Leyen applauded at the European Parliament at a conference held in Strasbourg, France on Wednesday.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saa said in a social media post that von der Leyen had succumbed to pressures that undermined Israeli-European relations. He said her actions would burn Hamas.
Warn Gaza residents to evacuate
Von Der Leyen’s comments continued Israeli military warning evacuated to Gaza city residents on Tuesday Hundreds of thousands of people remain under conditions of hunger ahead of plans to control what it portrays as Hamas’ last remaining hub.
An estimated 1 million Palestinians (about half of Gaza’s total population) live in the northern Gaza area around Gaza city, according to the Israeli military and the United Nations. Many people are exhausted from traveling multiple times and are not sure if it’s safer to move south.
The warning directed towards Gaza city first calls for full evacuation – Israel targeted the leader of Qatar’s Hamas on Tuesdaynegotiations to end the war in Gaza seemed to be stagnating.
The strike against the territory of US allies has elicited widespread criticism from countries in the Middle East and beyond. I also marked it Dramatic Regional Escalation They put emergency consultations at risk, aimed at ending the war and freeing the hostages that Hamas of Gaza still held.
Hamas claims to be a senior leader Survived the strike.
The EU Commission plans to freeze Israeli support
Von Der Leyen also said it plans to freeze support for Israel given by the European Union’s administrative department that does not require approval from 27 member states.
It was not immediately clear how much financial support the government, known as the European Commission, would provide Israel with and what it was being used for.
“We will put bilateral support for Israel on hold. We will stop all payments in these regions without affecting Israeli civil society or work with Yad Vashem,” the Holocaust Memorial told EU lawmakers.
The committee will also support the Palestinian authorities.
The war is celebrating its second anniversary
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants lured 251 people on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200, mostly Israeli civilians. The 48 hostages are still being held within Gaza, and it is believed that around 20 of them are alive.
Israeli retaliatory attacks have killed more than 64,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. The ministry, which is under the Hamas government in Gaza, does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but says that about half of those killed were women and children. The UN and other international organizations consider the figures the most reliable statistics on victims of war.
Most of Gaza’s major cities have been completely destroyed, with about 90% of the roughly 2 million Palestinians being displaced.
