European Union calls on Israel to urgently institute humanitarian pauses in the Gaza Strip
The European Union calls on Israel to immediately institute humanitarian pauses in the Gaza Strip to allow the access of essential aid to the Palestinian population. The wars in the Middle East and Ukraine dominated the discussions at yesterday's meeting of European Foreign Ministers in Brussels, Radio Romania reports.
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said that the situation in Gaza is critical, and called on Israel to urgently institute a pause in military operations. 20 of Gaza's 35 hospitals are no longer functioning due to a lack of fuel to generate electricity or desalinate water.
The crisis of food, drinking water and medicine is getting worse, which is why the European Union has asked Israel for an emergency temporary ceasefire.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Israel must be able to defend itself and to bring its hostages home. But it also had to act in accordance with international law, take all measures to protect innocent civilians – including in hospitals, and to stop extremist violence in the West Bank. He called for urgent humanitarian pauses in the fighting.
US President Joe Biden asked Israel to protect the largest hospital in Gaza, Al-Shifa, which according to the WHO, is no longer functioning and people's lives are in danger.
Israel has insisted that military action around the hospital is justified, despite criticism from the UN and others. A US official told CNN that Hamas has a command center under Al-Shifa hospital, uses fuel intended for the hospital, and its fighters regularly gather in and around Al-Shifa. Hamas and hospital officials have denied the allegation.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry says more than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its retaliatory attacks, after the terror group in turn killed 1,200 people in Israel and took more than 200 hostages.
