EU foreign policy chief calls on Israel to 'stop impeding humanitarian access' to Gaza

By Merve Aydogan

TORONTO, Canada (AA) - European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Tuesday that Israel is responsible for the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip by obstructing the delivery of aid.

"We have to increase humanitarian aid (into Gaza). But keep in mind that this humanitarian crisis is not being caused by a natural disaster. It is not a flood, it is not an earthquake. It is a man-made humanitarian disaster," Borrell told reporters at the UN, adding the EU is increasing its humanitarian assistance.

"We have to mobilize the international community, but it is urgent that Israeli authorities stop impeding humanitarian access," he added.

Borrell noted that Israel's obstruction of humanitarian aid to Gaza is the "main problem," saying that delivering aid by air or sea cannot be an alternative to land routes.

"We cannot substitute hundreds of tons and hundreds of tracks coming by road with an airborne operation," he said.

Regarding Pope Francis's recent remarks about Ukraine raising the "white flag" and negotiating to end the war with Russia, Borrell said: "I think there is no way for the Ukrainians to surrender, to raise the white flag. It is not the moment for Ukrainians. They have to continue resisting the invader, and we have to continue supporting them in order to make them resist."

Borrell emphasized that the EU is not against Russia or the Russian people.

"We are just against an authoritarian regime who has invaded its neighbor, violating the United Nations Charter,” he said.