Israeli minister’s call to displace people from West Bank 'completely unacceptable': EU foreign policy chief

By Nur Asena Erturk

The Israeli foreign minister’s call to displace people from the West Bank is “completely unacceptable,” the EU foreign policy chief said Thursday.

Before attending the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Josep Borrell told reporters that UN’s Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza Sigrid Kaag will brief the ministers on the situation in the field.

She will “explain the situation and the situation of even the United Nations, which are under strong pressure from the Israeli government, preventing all the United Nations organizations to do their work,” Borrell said.

He also regretted the delay in the possible outcome of cease-fire talks and the increase in civilian casualties as the bombing continued.

“The call from the minister of foreign affairs of Israel to displace people from the West Bank, doing more or less the same thing that they did with the people in Gaza, this is completely unacceptable,” Borrell said.

He expressed the wish that the EU ministers would raise their voices against this, and also “the treatment of the United Nations and the way this war is being performed in accordance on all violation of humanitarian law.”

On Wednesday, the Israeli army launched a major military operation in the northern West Bank, the largest in two decades, killing 17 Palestinians, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called for the "temporary evacuation" of Palestinian civilians as well as "whatever steps are required" to carry out the operation.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following a Hamas attack last Oct. 7, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

The onslaught has resulted in more than 40,500 Palestinian deaths, mostly women and children, and over 93,700 injuries, according to local health authorities.

An ongoing blockade of Gaza has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.

Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered a halt to military operations in the southern city of Rafah, where over one million Palestinians had sought refuge before the area was invaded on May 6.