Key Takeaways
- The EU has called for an immediate humanitarian pause in Gaza to prevent a catastrophic assault on the southern city of Rafah.
- All EU countries except Hungary have warned Israel against launching an assault on Rafah.
- The EU’s call for a sustainable ceasefire in the Gaza Strip aims to address the humanitarian crisis in the region.
Brussels: Twenty-six member states of the European Union (EU) called for an “immediate humanitarian pause that would lead to a sustainable ceasefire” in the besieged Gaza Strip, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said here on Monday.
The EU foreign ministers meeting was a crucial step in addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. 1.5 million refugees are crammed into the city, and an attack would be absolutely catastrophic.
“An attack on Rafah would be absolutely catastrophic … it would be unconscionable,” Ireland’s Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said before the meeting.
Israel’s reported plans for an assault on the city have sounded international alarm bells, with many countries urging restraint or cancelation of the operation.
