What more needs to happen before the EU acts with determination and force? 

Gaza has been turned into dust. The last hospital functioning in the North of Gaza was forced to close. On 2nd June, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) killed 31 Palestinians that were walking to an aid site to collect food. 500,000 people are on the verge of starvation, with the entire population of almost 2 million people facing famine. Since early March, Israel has blocked humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, while at the same time resuming indiscriminate bombings and a full-scale land invasion with the purpose of re-occupation. The death toll is now well beyond 50,000 people, and more than 100,000 injured. Almost all inhabitants have been forcefully displaced several times in the past year and a half. Schools, hospitals, refugee tents, homes, UN facilities, aid workers, journalists have been relentlessly attacked and killed. The Israeli state has employed several tactics to attempt to justify this, but let’s be clear: these killings are the result of a calculated policy of collective punishment, ethnic cleansing, and targeting of civilian infrastructure. 

The silence and inaction of the international community – including the EU and Member States – in the face of Israel’s war campaign to decimate Gaza is deplorable. Despite the atrocities committed by Israel and the hateful rhetoric of Israeli officials, European governments continue to arm, trade with, and offer political support to Israel. This must stop now. 

• Firstly, humanitarian aid must be immediately allowed to enter Gaza. SOLIDAR echoes the call of humanitarian donors for “a full resumption of aid into Gaza immediately and enable the UN and humanitarian organisations to work independently and impartially to save lives, reduce suffering and maintain dignity”. The model of humanitarian aid distribution proposed by Israel does not align with core humanitarian principles and lacks organisational capacity. The EU needs to act to save the lives of the people of Gaza. 
• Secondly, we call on the EU to suspend the Association Agreement with Israel with reference to the human rights condition upholding it. 160 civil society organisations, including SOLIDAR, called for the suspension of this agreement in January. The recent European Commission’s decision to review the agreement can only have one outcome, and it must come fast – suspend the agreement now.  
• Thirdly, we cannot condemn war crimes while supplying the weapons used to commit the EU must immediately declare an arms embargo against Israel and economic sanctions on the Israeli leaders responsible. 

Finally, in line with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) landmark advisory opinion of July 2024, states must not recognise, aid, or assist the unlawful situation arising from Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory, the European Commission must sanction trade with and investments in settlements. 

Every day of inaction makes the EU complicit to the ongoing Israeli war crimes. EU leaders: your lack of action and failure to uphold principles of international law have already cost thousands of lives. You must act now. 

Do not look away. All eyes on Gaza.