10/5/2024–|Last updated: 10/5/202402:29 AM (Mecca time)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called on Thursday not to sell weapons to Israel in order to push it to stop the continuous bombing of Gaza for the eighth month in a row.
Borrell explained – in a statement prior to his meeting with Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albarez – that the Israeli bombing will not stop until the ammunition in Israel’s possession runs out.
He added that the European Union is “divided” about taking a common position against what is happening in Gaza.
He addressed the union leaders, saying, “Some leaders say: There are many deaths in Gaza, and the question that must be asked is: How many people must die? Do we have to wait for 50,000 people to die before we take the necessary measures to prevent more?”
Regarding the possibility of some European Union countries recognizing the Palestinian state, Borrell said, “If a few countries take this step, I am sure that more will follow.”
It is noteworthy that Ireland, Slovenia, Malta and Norway support the initiative to recognize the Palestinian state, which Spain was the first to call for.
Regarding Washington’s supply of weapons to Tel Aviv, a senior American official stated earlier that the United States had suspended sending a shipment of bombs to Israel, after it failed to address Washington’s concerns about its plans to invade the city of Rafah, south of the Strip.
Suspension of arms sales
US President Joe Biden also announced – Thursday – that he may stop some weapons supplies to Israel if it launches a large-scale military operation in Rafah, a statement to which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by saying that his country will stand alone and fight “with its nails” if it is forced to do so.
Since the seventh of last October, Israel has continued its devastating war on the Gaza Strip despite the issuance of a resolution by the UN Security Council to immediately stop the fighting, and also despite the International Court of Justice demanding immediate measures to prevent genocide in the Strip and improve the humanitarian situation of its residents.
To date, the war has left tens of thousands of Palestinians martyred and wounded, most of them children and women, and about 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly.