The EU will spend a total of $108 million on humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza, Ursula von der Leyen said.
The European Union will increase its humanitarian aid to Gaza by 25 million euros ($27 million).
The additional funds, announced Monday by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, will bring the bloc’s aid fund for the bombed enclave to 100 million euros ($108 million). Brussels will now look for easier routes to deliver aid to Gaza.
“The European Union will spend a total of 100 million euros on humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza,” von der Leyen told European diplomats in Brussels.
Commission chief said aid flows to Gaza from Egypt “remain too low” and the EU was working on other possible routes, including deliveries by sea from Cyprus.
Von der Leyen said it was essential that Israel, for whose actions she has given full support, “strives to avoid civilian casualties” in its Gaza operation.
“Hamas is clearly using innocent Palestinians and hostages as human shields – it’s horrible and it’s pure evil,” she said, referring to the group that runs the enclave.
“Our hearts bleed at the images of little children pulled out of the rubble. »
Von der Leyen told diplomats that even as the conflict rages, there must be a “prospect” for a two-state solution.
She insisted that once the fighting ended, the precondition would be that “Gaza cannot be a safe haven for terrorists” and that Hamas would no longer be responsible for the territory. The EU designates Hamas as a terrorist organization.
“Different ideas are being discussed on how this can be ensured, including an international peace force under UN mandate,” she said.
Israeli forces continued their intense strikes against Palestinian fighters in Gaza on Monday, as the war lasts almost a month and the death toll according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry approaches 10,000 people inside the besieged territory.
Determined to destroy Hamas, whose October 7 attack killed 1,400 people in Israel and took more than 240 hostages, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised not to let up the pressure despite growing international calls for a cease. -fire.
On Monday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell suggested a plan under which Israel could suspend its military operations in Gaza in exchange for Red Cross access to captives held by Hamas.
“I think that a humanitarian pause balanced by access to the hostages with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as a first step towards their release is an initiative that we should work towards,” Borrell told the diplomats of the European Union in Brussels.
“Call it a truce, a window, whatever, but we need the violence to recede and international humanitarian law to be respected,” Borrell said.
