EU emphasizes that Israel is obligated to adhere to the ‘rules of war’

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell has stated that Israel must take all necessary care to prevent civilian casualties as it conducts its air and ground attacks in Gaza against the Palestinian armed group Hamas.

Borrell, who acknowledged to be “a bit pro-Palestinian,” stated in an interview with the Spanish daily El Pais on Monday that although he condemns Hamas’ attack on Israel, “one horror does not justify another horror,” alluding to the ongoing shelling of the enclave.

The top EU ambassador informed Israeli officials that the humanitarian situation in Gaza has been appalling and that “war has its rules” and “the bombings have to take into account the casualties they are causing.” Following the Hamas attack, Israel declared the enclave to be under “complete siege,” allowing only a small number of vehicles carrying humanitarian supplies to enter from neighbouring Egypt.

Borrell, meanwhile, voiced doubt about Israeli assertions that the forceful attacks on Gaza’s buildings were intended to demolish Hamas’s subterranean tunnel network. “They might be, they might not be; I’m not sure for sure. They believe they are,” he said to the publication.

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Officials from Hamas have often stated that their extensive network of tunnels in Gaza is thought to reach Egypt and that their goal is to challenge the Israeli “occupation.”

Borrell further emphasised that only a political solution has a chance of succeeding and that the conflict between Israel and Palestine “cannot be solved with the mass exodus of more than two million” Palestinians from Gaza. “Israel cannot sow more hatred now if it wants to build peace,” he continued, adding that the fate of the war mostly rests on the two sides’ ability to negotiate the release of the more than 240 hostages that Hamas is holding.

The EU has supported requests for a humanitarian halt and recognised Israel’s right to self-defense from the beginning of hostilities on October 7. Some European nations, along with the US, which is Israel’s principal ally, have been hesitant to press both sides to reach a truce, though, due to doubts about whether such an accord would ensure the nation’s security going forward.