By Burak Bir
LONDON (AA) - European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the absolute priority now is to prevent a "new de facto forced displacement" out of Gaza.
Noting that over 80% of the population has already been displaced within the besieged enclave, Borrell said "in humanitarian terms, the situation is horrific" in an op-ed published Monday in the French daily Le Monde.
"Now the absolute priority is to prevent a new de facto forced displacement out of Gaza, which is legally forbidden and morally unacceptable," he said.
Borrell said that to prevent at all costs an extension of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to Lebanon, to alleviate the catastrophic situation in Gaza, and to pave the way for a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are the three priorities.
"While these three issues obviously have their own dynamics, in reality, they are totally intertwined," he added.
Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on Gaza since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, which Tel Aviv said killed 1,200 people.
At least 24,285 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 61,154 injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.
According to the UN, 85% of the population of Gaza is already internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure is damaged or destroyed.
Turning to the exchanges of fire between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah group on the Lebanese-Israeli border, he mentioned UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which presupposes a cease-fire, the withdrawal of Hezbollah forces behind the Litani River, Israel's respect for Lebanese airspace and the opening of indirect negotiations on the territorial dispute between the two countries.
"This could be done immediately. And the EU is ready to help," said Borrell, noting that otherwise, the "conflagration in the region will be cataclysmic and the Lebanese people will pay once again a dire price for it."
"It will increase tensions, incentivize the spoilers and delay the search for a solution in Gaza and beyond to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," he added.
Tensions have escalated along Lebanon’s border with Israel since the Israeli army launched a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack amid an exchange of cross-border fire between Hezbollah and Israeli forces in the deadliest clashes since the two sides fought a full-scale war in 2006.