European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas says she told Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar that Israel’s renewed military campaign in Gaza is “unacceptable.”
“Yesterday I also talked to Foreign Minister Sa’ar… what is happening, why are you doing this. And I mean, also conveying the message that this is unacceptable,” the Estonian diplomat tells reporters in Brussels.
Kallas says she was referring specifically to “the loss of civilian lives.”
Kallas says she will travel to Egypt on Sunday to discuss the situation with the “Arab Quint” — Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — adding there was a need to increase diplomatic pressure on Israel.
According to the Israeli readout of yesterday’s phone call, Sa’ar told Kallas that Israel “has no choice” but to renew military operations in the Gaza Strip, stressing that while Israel has endorsed proposals offered by US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff that would maintain the ceasefire, “Hamas has rejected them twice.”
Sa’ar also emphasized to Kallas that the IDF is operating “solely against Hamas and terrorist targets while working to minimize harm to the civilian population.”
The conversation came the same day Kallas released a joint statement with EU commissioners saying, “The EU deplores the breakdown of the ceasefire in Gaza and the deaths of civilians, including children, in Israeli airstrikes,” calling on Israel to end the campaign and for Hamas to release all the hostages.
“The EU believes that the resumption of negotiations is the only way forward,” the statement continued.
Macron, Abdullah urge return to Gaza ceasefire talks
French President Emmanuel Macron and Jordan’s King Abdullah II call for a diplomatic solution to Israel’s war with Hamas after Tuesday’s renewed strikes in Gaza.
“There is no military solution in Gaza,” says Macron in a joint press conference with the Jordanian ruler in Paris
He says the resumed conflict “marks a dramatic step backward,” and that “negotiations must resume in good faith under American auspices, thanks to whom we had the initial ceasefire.”
While emphasizing the importance of defeating Hamas and Iran’s “Axis of Resistance,” Macron says “the only way forward is to return to a political solution, and its elements are already on the table.”
Abdullah calls the strikes “an extremely dangerous step that adds further devastation to an already dire humanitarian situation.”
“The international community must act immediately and collectively push for restoring the ceasefire and the implementation of its phases… The ceasefire must be restored and the flow of aid must resume immediately,” he says.
2 comments:
Did the EU call Syria's mass murder of Christians and other groups "unacceptable"? How about parading naked women in the street then shooting them. I guess that did not reach the threshold of EU unacceptability either.
I figured it out. When Israel exercises the military option especially in Gaza or the West Bank the internationalists howl. Why? The faint hope of finally cobbling together a two-state solution put in jeopardy.
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