EU doesn’t have unified position on Gaza war, says foreign policy chief

CAIRO

European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday that the bloc does not have a unified position on the ongoing war on the Gaza Strip.

"We are almost there, but we are not there. Why? Quite simple: Because those who are waging war have no interest in putting an end to it, Borrell said at a joint news conference in Cairo with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty in reference to the efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, including the recent trilateral one by Egypt, Qatar and the U.S.

“Because their intransigence is accompanied by total impunity and their acts have no consequence,” Borrell emphasized.

When asked specifically about the EU's position on the Israeli attacks in Gaza, he said the bloc has been the largest provider of humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave.

“But at the same time, you know very well that this issue is a very dividing issue inside the European Union, with different member states having different positions, and they have to represent a common position,” he pointed out.

Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip – now nearly a year old – has killed around 41,100 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured nearly 94,800 others, according to local health authorities.

The EU’s top diplomat was in a Middle East tour, and he visited the Rafah border crossing after holding talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Borrell told reporters on the Egyptian side of the Rafah Crossing into Gaza: “Certainly we have to avoid … Gaza becoming a new Mogadishu, a Mogadishu in the Mediterranean, or a new Haiti, aligned without law and order, abandoned to the gangs, to the violence of people.”

It is the security and stability of the whole region, including Israel, which is at stake, he added.

“Today, 1,400 trucks are waiting to enter. And in a good day, maybe 50 will come in. In [the Muslim holy month of] Ramadan time, they were 600 per day. This is a drop in the ocean of needs on the other side of the crossing,” Borrell said.

Borrell is expected to visit Lebanon during his tour, while no stop in Israel has been scheduled.

The Israeli government has strongly criticized him after he proposed that two Israeli ministers should be sanctioned for hate speech and incitement to war crimes.