Barcelona/StrasbourgEuropean Union Foreign Minister Kaja Kallas announced Thursday that the European Union has reached an agreement with Israel to increase the flow of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. "The agreement entails the opening of more border crossings, the entry of trucks carrying aid and food into Gaza, the repair of vital infrastructure, and the protection of humanitarian personnel. We count on Israel to implement all the agreed measures," she said in a statement. The announcement comes ahead of next Tuesday's EU Foreign Affairs Council, where future sanctions against Benjamin Netanyahu's government are expected to be discussed. The pact on humanitarian aid further reduces the likelihood that member states will choose to apply restrictions to Tel Aviv.
According to Kallas, humanitarian aid routes from Jordan and Egypt will be opened, which should allow for the distribution of food from bread ovens and community kitchens throughout the Strip and also the resumption of fuel deliveries to keep humanitarian facilities operating. Furthermore, the agreement includes the repair of critical infrastructure, such as the electrical grid that powers water desalination plants. "These measures will be implemented in the coming days, with the shared understanding that the necessary aid must be delivered directly to the population, and measures will continue to be taken to ensure that Hamas does not divert aid," the EU foreign policy chief noted, a comment that supports the Israeli accusation that the Palestinian militia is deflecting aid.
On another note, the head of European diplomacy has once again called for "an immediate ceasefire" and "the release of all hostages," and has supported the efforts of Egypt, Qatar, and the United States in their role as "mediators."
Neither the content nor the volume of the aid, let alone how it will be distributed, is clear in the context of the Controversy over the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution points, the mechanism devised by the United States and Israel to bypass the UN system and international and local humanitarian organizations. These distribution sites are already known in Gaza as "killing points," because Israeli troops have murdered people in their vicinity. At least 771 Palestinians were killed when they were collecting aid and more than 5,000 were injured., according to authorities in the Strip.
An Israeli drone attacked a group of Palestinians this morning as they queued to collect aid at a medical center distributing nutritional supplements to children suffering from malnutrition due to the Israeli blockade imposed on Gaza. In the center, Hamas, the death toll is 15, including ten children and three women. Civil Protection teams have announced that they have run out of vehicles to rescue the wounded from the rubble of bombed buildings throughout the center and north of the Strip. Israel is intensifying its attacks and accelerating the displacement of the population towards the south of the Strip, where construction of a large camp to close in the Palestinians has already begun.
The agreement that removes sanctions
Brussels announced the agreement with Tel Aviv less than a week before the deadline to discuss whether to apply sanctions against Netanyahu's government once and for all. Pressure to take restrictive measures was growing, especially after the EU decided at the last Foreign Affairs Council to give Israel another chance despite the more than 55,000 deaths in Palestine and the publication of a European Commission report that noted "indications" that the Israeli government was violating international and human rights law. However, the pact acts as a decompression device and removes the slim chances that the EU would end up, for example, breaking the association agreement with Israel or blacklisting senior Israeli leaders.
In fact, the review of the EU's association agreement with Israel, requested by 17 member states, was not intended to end with sanctions against Netanyahu's government. Diplomatic sources from several European partners suggested that this was merely a diplomatic gesture to put pressure on Tel Aviv to allow entry of humanitarian aid, largely funded by the European bloc itself. Thus, despite the fact that the EU has no guarantee that Netanyahu will keep his word, Israel has managed to avoid sanctions, at least for a time, as the most pro-Zionist member states, such as Germany, also wanted.
However, Brussels will present a document to the member states, to which the ARA has had access, which foresees ten possible sanctions against the Netanyahu government if it continues to violate humanitarian and international law and does not allow entry of humanitarian aid. The restrictions range from a suspension of the association agreement with Israel to more minor issues such as the expulsion of Israel from the Erasmus student exchange program.
US against the UN rapporteur
Meanwhile, the United States government has imposed sanctions against the UN special rapporteur on the West Bank and Gaza, Francesca Albanese, for her outspoken criticism of the Israeli government for the "genocide" it is perpetrating in the Strip. The Trump administration has repeatedly maneuvered to have the UN remove Albanese, but has been unsuccessful. On Wednesday night, it announced sanctions against her, including a ban on her entry into the United States and a freeze on any assets she may have in the country.
The Italian-born lawyer, an expert in international law, has supported the case brought against the Netanyahu government by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which accuses Israel of war crimes. Some of the judges on this international tribunal are also sanctioned by the United States. Albanese has always been highly critical of Israel's actions in Gaza and in recent weeks has issued a series of letters urging other countries to pressure Israel, including through sanctions, to end its deadly bombardment of the Strip.
"Today more than ever, I stand firm and convinced by the side of justice, as I always have. I come from a country with a tradition of illustrious jurists, talented lawyers and courageous judges who have defended justice at great cost and often with their own lives. I intend to honor this tradition proudly," Albanese said on her X account, without explicitly mentioning the sanctions against her.
