Michael D Higgins: EU must go further to stop Israel's war on Gaza
European countries must 'go further' to prevent Israel from continuing its war in Gaza, President Michael D Higgins has said.
Mr Higgins has said there is a 'clear' finding that Israel has breached the terms of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, as he criticised the use of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation by the Israeli authorities. The President said:
The time has now come to go further. The finding that Israel is in breach of the human rights obligations of the EU-Israel Association Agreement is clear.
'Now is the time for an immediate call for action and assistance from the international community to ensure that no more time is lost, that there is no further loss of life as people exercise the impossible choice between risking their lives to access aid or starving.
'This is a call that I know has become ever stronger on the European Street.'
Mr Higgins quoted the head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, who described the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation as a 'death trap' and an 'an abomination that humiliates and degrades desperate people'.
'It is imperative in this context that, as called for in a resolution overwhelmingly passed at the United Nations earlier this month, that UNRWA are allowed to resume their work in Gaza as the backbone of the humanitarian response,' he said.
'Calls for countries to alternatively fund an alternative system, one which has been described in the stark terms which I have quoted, amounts to no less than an attempt to undermine the United Nations and its vital work.'
The President welcomed comments earlier this week by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, who described the EU's response to the crisis in Gaza as a 'stain' on the bloc.
He added while attacks in Gaza remain ongoing, people living in the West Bank 'continue to be subjected to killings and attacks by violent members of those living in illegal settlements with the full support of the Israeli military'.
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