Several governments are to make a renewed push to rally enough support inside the European Union to jointly sanction Israel for its continuing military campaign in Gaza.
Foreign ministers from the 27 EU states are meeting for two days of talks in Copenhagen from Friday, with the wars in Ukraine and Gaza at the top of their agenda.
Proposals for even limited action to be taken against Israel by the EU remain blocked by opposition from a group of member states. The camp objecting to any sanction of Israel includes two of the union’s strongest members, Germany and Italy, as well as Hungary, Czechia and Austria.
The foreign ministers of Sweden and the Netherlands have called on their counterparts to support the suspension of an EU-Israel free-trade agreement in response to the “intolerable” situation in Gaza.
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“We feel that more needs to be done to ramp up pressure on the Israeli government to change its course and to meet its obligations according to international law,” the pair said in an August 27th letter to Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign affairs chief.
The letter called for an immediate ceasefire, the “unhindered” flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages still held by Hamas militants.
The letter, written by Ruben Brekelmans, acting foreign minister in the caretaker Dutch government, and Maria Malmer Stenergard, Swedish foreign minister, said the EU should also put sanctions on Hamas leaders.
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris said the scenes in Gaza were “nothing short of catastrophic”. He said he would be calling for EU action at the meeting in Copenhagen.
“Ireland will take its own steps at a national level, but the EU, for its own credibility, must act now,” he said.
At least 62,800 Palestinian have been killed by Israeli forces during almost two years of war. Israel’s invasion of Gaza was launched in response to the October 7th, 2023 attacks by Hamas militants on southern Israel.
Famine has been declared by a humanitarian monitor in parts of Gaza, with warnings it would spread throughout the bombarded Palestinian enclave if Israel continued to restrict the entry of aid.
The European Commission, the union’s executive arm that drafts laws, proposed suspending Israel’s access to an EU funding scheme for start-up companies in late July. However, the move needs the support of a weighted majority of the 27 states, with Germany and Italy seen as hold-outs blocking the suspension for now.
The letter from the Dutch and Swedish foreign ministers called for the commission to go further and table a suspension of the union’s free-trade agreement with Israel.
Plans to expand illegal Israeli settlements and cut the West Bank off from occupied Palestinian territory in East Jerusalem were “unacceptable,” the letter said.
