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EU member Ireland moves against Israel over Gaza clean-up operation, to ban imports from occupied areas
A drone view shows displaced Palestinians sheltering in tents set up near the rubble of buildings destroyed during the Israeli offensive, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City on February 17, 2025. Reuters File
Ireland has moved to table a bill that would ban imports from the occupied territories of Palestine, a first such move by an EU member to curtail products made by Israeli settlements in Gaza.
'Given the scale and gravity of what we're now seeing with the deprivation of aid and the bombardment of Gaza … this is an appropriate course of action to take,' Simon Harris, the country's deputy prime minister, told the Financial Times.
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The settlements consist of residential, agricultural, and commercial developments in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, located beyond Israel's internationally recognised borders.
How will it affect trade?
If the bill is passed, Ireland would make importing goods from the occupied regions of Palestine a criminal offence. However, the law will not seek a boycott of Israeli products.
A ban on exports from the occupied territories is largely symbolic, given that trade is limited to physical goods like dates, oranges, olives, and some timber, with a total value of just €685,000 over the four years from 2020 to 2024.
Conor O'Neill, the head of advocacy and policy at Christian Aid Ireland, said, 'This is a massive welcome step, it is the first time a trade measure of this kind has been applied to Israel by any EU country. After decades of saying and repeating that illegal settlements are totally illegal and that the EU is opposed to them, this is the first time that words are being matched with action.'
EU reviews deal with Israel
Last week, the EU ordered a review of its cooperation deal with Israel and Britain halted trade talks with it as European nations took a tougher line over the Gaza war.
France renewed its commitment to recognise a Palestinian state, a day after Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu angrily hit back at Britain, France and Canada for threatening action over his country's military offensive and blockade of Gaza.
EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said 'a strong majority' of the 27 member states at a foreign ministers' meeting backed the move in a bid to pressure Israel.
'Countries see that the situation in Gaza is untenable, and what we want is to really help the people, and… to unblock the humanitarian aid so that it will reach the people,' Kallas told journalists.
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