‘This war should be the last’, Borrell tells MEPs on Gaza humanitarian crisis

The European Parliament has been addressed by the EU’s High Representative for External Relations, Josep Borell, on the unfolding crisis in Gaza as Palestinians die under an incessant campaign of bombardment and retribution from the Israeli Defence Forces.

Borell, in his appeal to MEPs – who throughout the debate have expressed varying degrees of pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian solidarity – spoke of his recent visits to Israel, Palestine, Bahrain, Qatar and Jordan.

“All the people I spoke to in the region shared our concern that this war should be the last by finding the means to finally put in place the two-state solution that the international community has been advocating for decades.”

Over 40% of the housing has been demolished in Gaza and more than 12,000 persons have died according to Gaza health authorities, of which nearly 5,000 were children.

“In terms of absolute urgency, representatives of UN agencies and the Palestinian Authority informed us in detail of the dramatic situation of the civilian population in Gaza regarding the lack of water, food, medical assistance, and shelter resulting from the siege imposed on the enclave at a time when rain and cold are arriving,” Borell said.

The Israeli military plans to create a safe area along the sea in the southern part of Gaza to concentrate there the civilian population, in order to carry out ground operations in the south of the enclave.

But Borell said this did not reassure him about the future course of events “if we fail to achieve a rapid and durable de-escalation of the military operations.”

In two meetings with families of hostages, Borell said he fully understood the shock that Israeli society suffered from the Hamas attack. “For many of them the memory of the Holocaust resurfaced again: ‘they did it to us just because we are jews’.” 

“There is of course no doubt that many actions carried out on 7 October by Hamas were was crimes; however, as I told my Israelis interlocutors, one horror cannot justify another. The respect for human life is what makes the difference between a civilised society and terrorist actors.”

Borrell told MEPs that it was crucial not only to deliver enough humanitarian aid to allow the civilian population to survive for some more days, but to avoid continuing to endanger their lives. 

Since the beginning of the year, over 400 Palestinians have also died in the West Bank, about half of them since 7 October, with over 35 villages emptied from their Palestinian population since then. 

“US President Biden as well as several European leaders have already required the Israeli government to stop the violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. A race against the clock is obviously on to bring about a de-escalation of the military operations in Gaza and of the violence in the West Bank, failing which the conflict could easily degenerate and spread.”

Borell said the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank has shown a firm resolve and readiness to take over the management of Gaza once the military operations ended.

“However, to do so, this authority will need a lot of additional support in the coming months. It will also need to be re-legitimised in due time by organising elections throughout the internationally recognised Palestinian territory: Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.”