By Nur Asena Erturk
ANKARA (AA) – More deaths and more destruction in Gaza will not bring more security to Israel, the EU foreign policy chief said Monday after a Foreign Ministers Council meeting.
Chairing the meeting in Brussels that gathered the bloc's foreign ministers, as well as guests from the Middle Eastern countries, Josep Borrell said: “I think more deaths, more destruction, more hardship for the Gaza people, for the Palestinian people will not help to defeat Hamas, or its ideology. It will not bring more security to Israel.”
He called for working toward a lasting and durable solution and added that all the attendees agreed on supporting the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).
Borrell also deplored the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and added that the EU continues to work on sanctions against violent extremist Israeli settlers attacking Palestinians in the West Bank.
“I do not think we should talk about the Middle East peace process anymore. I think we should start talking specifically about the two-state solution implementation process," the EU representative said.
He recalled that the EU's common position was humanitarian pauses, and noted: "There was no unanimity, no agreement at the European Council level to support a cease-fire."
The EU ministers held separate informal exchanges with ministers and other representatives from various countries including Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, and Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki.
Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas which Tel Aviv says killed 1,200 people.
At least 25,295 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 63,000 injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.
The Israeli onslaught has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
- War in Ukraine
Russia is not achieving any progress in the region, and the EU ministers "agreed that this is not the moment to weaken our support to Ukraine. It is the moment to do more and faster," Borrell explained.
He announced his plans to visit Ukraine in early February, and added: "The war in Ukraine is an existential threat to Europe, and therefore we need to be ready and prepared to help Ukraine."