European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday proposed a plan for Israel to halt its military operation in the Gaza Strip in exchange for Red Cross access to hostages held by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
“I think a humanitarian pause offset by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) being able to reach the hostages as a first step towards their release is an initiative we should be working towards,” Mr Borrell told EU diplomats in Brussels.
The EU, the US and Britain are seeking a humanitarian pause in Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip to allow humanitarian aid to reach people in the enclave of Palestinian territory.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out any temporary truce until all the hostages taken in Hamas’s deadly October 7 attack on the Jewish state are released.
“Call it a ceasefire, a window, whatever, but we need the violence to subside and international humanitarian law to be respected,” Borrell said.
Israel began bombing the Gaza Strip after Hamas gunmen stormed the border on October 7, killing 1,400 people. people, mostly civilians.
The Health Ministry of the Gaza Strip, controlled by the group “Hamas”, reported that almost 10,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Palestinian territory since the start of the war with Israel. people, mostly women and children.
Hamas has been involved in several wars with Israel since taking control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. The group has been recognized as a terrorist by Israel, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and some other countries.
Mr. Borrell warned that the Israelis’ overreaction would ultimately cost them the support of the international community.
“There is no military solution to this conflict,” he said. – Even if Hamas Gaza [Ruože] will be uprooted, it will not solve Gaza [Ruožo] problems.”
According to Mr. Borrell, the tragedy unfolding in the Middle East is the result of a collective political and moral failure, for which Israelis and Palestinians are paying dearly.
“This moral and political failure is due to the fact that we really lack the will to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian problem,” he said.
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2024-10-01 19:15:34
