EU edges towards call for pause in Israel-Hamas war but doubts persist
Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas even as some member governments signalled reservations about the idea.
Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief, said he backed a call by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for a break in the conflict to allow much more humanitarian aid to reach Palestinian civilians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
EU officials also drafted a statement in support of the proposal for an EU summit later this week, although they cautioned the text could still change in the coming days.
The moves reflected increasing alarm about the fate of Palestinian civilians after two weeks of Israel bombarding and blockading Gaza in response to the Oct.
7 Hamas assault that killed 1,400 people and took more than 200 hostage.
More than 5,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes, according to the enclave's health ministry, and about 1.4 million of Gaza's 2.3 million population are now internally displaced, according to the United Nations.
Two aid convoys — one of 20 trucks, the other of 14 — entered Gaza over the weekend from Egypt at the Rafah crossing, according to officials. But aid workers said this was a fraction of the aid that would go into Gaza even in normal times.
«Now the most important thing is for humanitarian support to go into Gaza,» Borrell told reporters on arrival at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
EU members including France, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Slovenia and Luxembourg have also backed the idea.
«There's a vital need to get water, to get food, to get medical supplies into Gaza,» said Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin.
«The degree of human suffering is immense. We have to distinguish between the civilians of Gaza and Hamas.»
But some
