Exclusive: Palestinian FM 'shocked' at EU failure to act over Gaza

Euronews

18 hours ago

The Palestinian Authority's (PA) minister for foreign affairs, Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, described as 'shocking and disappointing' the European Union's refusal to act against Israel for violations in Gaza and the West Bank.
The PA governs the West Bank while Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip for much of the last two decades. It has been severely weakened because of Israel's assault in Gaza.
EU foreign affairs ministers failed on Tuesday to agree on any action against the Jewish state despite an EU report showing Israel is in breach of Article 2 of the Israel-EU Association Agreement, which underlines that human rights and democratic principles must be respected.
It's 'shocking and disappointing, because everything is crystal clear. I mean, there's a new EU report that clearly stated that Israel has been violating ... 38 violations were indicated in that report. And it's an EU report,' Aghabekian Shahin told Euronews in an exclusive interview.
'These violations have been unfolding in front of everybody's eyes. The whole world has been seeing what is happening in Gaza. The killing. The atrocities, the war crimes, the weaponisation of food, the killing of people queuing to get a pack of flour,' she said.
Aghabekian was in Brussels as EU foreign ministers failed to get the requisite support to coalesce unanimously to agree on any measure, despite the conclusion that Israel is in breach of human rights in the West Bank and Gaza laws.
The EU and its member states are the biggest donors of humanitarian and development aid to the Palestinians, but due to historical divisions, are unable to forge a common foreign policy.
Ministers were given a range of ten options by EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas to apply as potential penalties against Israel in response to the breaches.
Such options included suspension of Israel's access to the EU's Horizon Europe Research programme, limited trade measures, an arms embargo or sanctions against extremist hardline members of the Israeli government, such as Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Both Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have been sanctioned by the UK, Norway, Canada, New Zealand and Australia for 'repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank.'
Yet it was a foregone conclusion that no measures would pass, as most decisions require unanimity from all member states, and Germany, Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic consistently refuse any criticism against Israel's military campaigns in the Palestinian territories.
For decisions that require a qualified majority vote, either Germany or Italy – the countries with the largest populations – need to support them, and neither was willing.
Last week, ahead of the meeting on Tuesday, the EU struck a deal with Israel to 'substantially' increase the number of trucks of humanitarian aid including medical food items into Gaza.
Kallas said Tuesday that while there has been some improvement in the number of trucks entering Gaza, the situation was still 'catastrophic'.
In the days following the deal, dozens of Palestinian civilians including many children have been killed trying to access aid. On Sunday Israel admitted a 'technical error' after 10 people were killed including six children at a water distribution centre in Nuseirat refugee camp.
'I hope the EU puts very strong scrutinizing measures on monitoring the compliance with the agreement, because if we look at the last week, since the agreement was made, we see more killings of people', the foreign minister said.
'We see people killed at the queuing points. We see children brutally murdered while in tents. Awaiting medical care from another tent', said Aghabekian Shahin.
Israel says the violence in Gaza is a response to Hamas stealing and diverting aid from starving Palestinians.
'There are conflicting reports on this. But regardless, whatever is being offered in Gaza is not meeting the needs of the Gazans', she said.
Aghabekian Shahin said where in the past there were 300 points of distribution of food and aid, today there are four.
'There was a modality in the past, and that modality was working because the international organisations were distributing the aid, and they had like 300 points of distribution. Today we have a new modality with four points of the distribution', she told Euronews.
In its last humanitarian update on 9 July, the UN estimated that one-third of Gazans are going entire days without eating and more people are at risk of starvation. Health services face an imminent shutdown due to a lack of fuel.