EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Borrell said on Tuesday (October 10) that the EU opposes a comprehensive blockade of Gaza and that most EU member states support continuing to provide assistance to the Palestinian Authority. Israel claimed on Tuesday that it had regained control of its border with the Gaza Strip. The U.S. State Department welcomed the EU’s decision to continue providing aid to Palestine.
Publish time: 10/10/2023 – 23:24
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Agence France-Presse reported that Borrell said after a special meeting of the EU’s 27 foreign ministers on Tuesday that “respecting international law means rejecting a blockade that cuts off (Gaza’s) water, electricity and food supplies.”
Borrell also told the media that the majority of EU members are opposed to suspending aid to the Palestinian Authority.
Borrell also said that the 27 foreign ministers of the EU unanimously agreed to open humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians fleeing under gunfire to Egypt.
Foreign ministers of EU member states met in the Omani capital Muscat on Tuesday to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian situation. The foreign ministers of some EU member states were present at the meeting, and some foreign ministers also attended the meeting via video.
Borrell specifically emphasized after the meeting that Israel has the right to defend itself after being attacked by Hamas in a “barbaric and terrorist” manner, “but self-defense actions must be carried out in accordance with international law and humanitarian law, and certain decisions violate international law.”
With the exception of two or three member states, most EU foreign ministers expressed support for continued aid to the Palestinian Authority, excluding Hamas.
“Hamas is a terrorist organization and the Palestinian Authority is something else, a partner,” Borrell said. “Not all Palestinians are terrorists, and collective punishment of Palestinians would be unjust and counterproductive,” he said.
Israel also announced on Tuesday that it had partially regained control of its border with the Gaza Strip, which is also under martial law, after a four-day war with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas that left thousands dead.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised: “This is just the beginning. We will defeat (Hamas) with force, strong force.”
Israel called on the local people to evacuate the border areas and intensified its attack on the Gaza Strip, and implemented a comprehensive siege and blockade of Gaza. Israel ordered an immediate water cut after suspending electricity and food supplies.
The death toll caused by the fierce conflict between Israel and Kazakhstan continues to rise. Reuters said the Israeli death toll rose to more than 900. Gaza health authorities said on Tuesday that Israeli air strikes killed more than 900 people, including 260 children and 230 women, and injured more than 4,600 people. Agence France-Presse reported that the Israeli army said that 1,500 bodies of Hamas militants were found in the territory, and the cumulative death toll caused by the conflict increased to more than 3,000.
According to Agence France-Presse, Hamas sources confirmed on Tuesday night that two senior Hamas officials were killed in an Israeli air strike. Earlier, the Israeli army stated that Israeli aircraft carried out strikes on Hamas Economic Minister Shmalah and Mamar, a senior member of the Hamas Political Bureau in the Gaza Strip, respectively in the evening.
The Israeli military said no Hamas militants had been detected entering Israel since Monday night. The military has completed the evacuation of all residents in the neighboring Gaza Strip, stressing that from now on, anyone approaching Israeli territory will die.
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2023-10-10 21:24:52
