The president of the European Commission on Friday accused the Islamist group Hamas of causing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza by attacking Israel and promising aid from the European Union (EU), which must arrive “unhindered and quickly”.
“Hamas has created a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and for the Commission [Europeia]it is very important that we continue to intensify our efforts to tackle the humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” Ursula von der Leyen argued.
According to the leader of the community council, aid must reach Gaza without obstacles and quickly.
“The 56 tons of aid that our first two humanitarian flights brought to Egypt have not yet been delivered together and this is important, but it is clear that more is needed. Our next two flights are scheduled for today, Friday, and more flights are planned. planned for the coming days and we are moving quickly with the implementation of the additional 50 million euros [para 75 milhões] of additional humanitarian aid for Gaza,” said Ursula von der Leyen.
The position comes after EU heads of government and state agreed on Thursday to call for “humanitarian pauses” to allow the passage of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, following disagreements over terminology.
“We had a long, good and intense discussion about the situation in the Middle East. The overall position was very clear: Israel is a democracy under attack by Hamas, a terrorist organization, Israel has the right to self-defense in accordance with international law and international humanitarian law and […] There must be the immediate release of all hostages by Hamas, without any preconditions,” Ursula von der Leyen urged.
“It has become clear that Hamas is also harming the Palestinian people through its terrorist activities,” the official concluded.
EU leaders met on Thursday to discuss tensions in the Middle East, with the aim of securing humanitarian aid and support for negotiations on a two-state solution, at a time of heavy bombardment from Tel Aviv on the Gaza Strip following the attack by the Islamist group Hamas on October 7.
The conclusions of this first day of the European summit underline the “deep concern” over the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Gaza, with EU leaders calling for “continued, rapid, safe and unhindered access for humanitarian aid, and that aid in need through all necessary measures, including humanitarian corridors and humanitarian breaks.”
This wording of “breaks for humanitarian purposes”, agreed among the 27 after around six hours of discussions at the European Council, which started today in Brussels and will last until Friday, comes after the previous version of the draft conclusions included the phrase “humanitarian pause” . , without ever expecting a call for a “ceasefire”.
The call for a humanitarian pause in Gaza gained consensus among member states’ leaders, but Portugal, for example, had already admitted that it preferred an EU position to defending a humanitarian ceasefire.
The position comes after the Islamist group Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7 with the launch of thousands of rockets and the incursion of armed militiamen, to which Israel responded by declaring war on the movement it controls. and which is classified as terrorist.
Source: DN
