The head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, warned this Monday that what is seen in Gaza is “a massacre” equal to the Hamas attacks against Israel on October 7 and that “one horror cannot justify another” .
During a forum on human rights between the European Union (EU) and several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) this Monday in Brussels, the EU high representative for foreign policy pointed out that, just as he criticized Franco’s regime without being anti-Spanish, today It should be possible to criticize the Israeli Government without being branded anti-Semitic.
“It began with a terrorist attack (…), certainly an act of terror against defenseless civilians. It was a massacre, but what we are seeing in Gaza is another massacre. How many victims? Nothing is known,” said the head of the diplomatic community, considering that the current estimates of victims may be lower than reality “taking into account what remains of the destroyed houses.”
Borrell pointed out that, although Israel has the right to defend itself, “this high number of civilian victims cannot be accepted” because “one horror cannot justify another horror and the international community is increasingly raising its voice demanding that this horror end.”
“One may have the right to criticize the Government of the State of Israel without being described as anti-Semitic (…). I was able to criticize Franco’s Government in my country when it was a dictatorship and without being anti-Spanish.” “I have the right to defend a two-state solution without being against the existence of the State of Israel,” he added.
In this sense, he urged to continue efforts for a political solution that prevents Gaza from “becoming a place for all types of violence, terrorist movements and illegal migration.”
“We ask for the release of all the hostages, the end of this humanitarian catastrophe, the search for a solution for the next day and the end of illegal settlements and aggressions against Palestinians in the West Bank,” Borrell concluded.
The ongoing war in the Middle East began on October 7, following an attack by the armed wing of Hamas, which included the launching of thousands of rockets into Israel and the infiltration of some 3,000 fighters that killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians. and kidnapped another 240 in Israeli villages near the Gaza Strip.
In retaliation, the Israel Defense Forces led a relentless offensive by air, land and sea in that Palestinian enclave, which faces a serious humanitarian crisis due to the collapse of hospitals and the lack of shelter, drinking water, food, medicine and electricity.
The authorities of the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas since 2007, raised the death toll in the Israeli offensive to almost 15,900 on Monday, while more than 250 Palestinians died at the hands of Tel Aviv forces or in attacks by settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since October 7.
The sides ceased hostilities for a week under a truce brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, but fighting returned on Friday following a failure to extend the deal.
Source: TSF
