European commissioner calls for pressure on Israel to allow more aid into Gaza

By Melike Pala

ANKARA/BRUSSELS (AA) - The European commissioner for cohesion and reforms called Wednesday for pressure on Israel to allow the flow of more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

The tragic events in Gaza underscore the urgency of ending the war, increasing humanitarian aid and releasing the hostages, Elisa Ferreira told a session of the European Parliament on the immediate risk of mass starvation in Gaza and attacks on humanitarian aid deliveries.

Reminding that civilians are dying from starvation in the besieged enclave, where the health system has collapsed, Ferreira also expressed concern over a planned Israeli military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which is packed with 1.5 million displaced Palestinians.

Anyone concerned about the situation in Gaza should pressure the Israeli government to allow unimpeded land access for aid trucks, she added.

Saying that the international community needs to take action to protect civilians from hunger and violence, she stressed that the European Union will continue to work with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

Several countries suspended funding to UNRWA last month following Israeli accusations that 12 of the agency's thousands of employees took part in the Oct. 7 attack last year by the Palestinian group Hamas on Israel.

The EU and Canada, which had suspended funding, announced later that they would resume support.

- 'Hunger as a weapon'

Some EU lawmakers pointed out that the famine in the Gaza Strip is a result of Israel's actions which constitute "genocide" and said those who remain silent are "complicit" in this.

This crisis was created entirely by Israel's actions and the inaction of the world, which remained silent to the plight of Gazans, said Irish member of the European Parliament (MEP) Grace O'Sullivan.

Belgian MEP Hilde Vautmans also reminded that children are dying of hunger in Gaza and that humanitarian aid convoys and civilian infrastructure can never be the target of war.

Hunger can never be used as a weapon, she noted, stressing that Israel must open all corridors so that aid can reach the Gaza Strip.

Spanish lawmaker Miguel Urban Crespo said what is happening in the besieged Palestinian enclave is a "genocide."

Saying that the world is watching a genocide take place in the middle of the 21st century, he noted that Israel not only kills people with bombs but also with hunger.

Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza since Oct. 7, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas in which 1,163 people were killed.

More than 31,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza and over 73,000 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of most food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.