The European Union is seeking updates from Israel on implementation of a new deal to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, according to Kaja Kallas, the bloc’s foreign policy chief.
Foreign ministers from the EU’s 27-member nations are meeting Tuesday in Brussels in the wake of a new aid deal for Gaza largely forged by Kallas and Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar.
Saar met with EU leaders on Monday after agreeing last week allow desperately needed food and fuel into the coastal enclave of 2.3 million people who have endured more than 21 months of war.
âWe have reached a common understanding with Israel to really improve the situation on the ground, but itâs not about the paper, but actually implementation of the paper,” Kallas said before the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council.
âAs long as it hasnât really improved, then we havenât all done enough,â she said, before calling for a ceasefire.
Kallas said the ministers will also discuss Iranâs nuclear program, concerns over developments in Georgia and Moldova, and new sanctions on Russia. The EU is readying its 18th package of sanctions on Russia, with holdouts within the bloc arguing over the keystone policy of capping oil prices to cut into Moscowâs energy revenues.
European nations like Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain have increasingly called for the EU’s ties with Israel to be reassessed in the wake of the war in Gaza.
A report by the European Commission found â indications â that Israelâs actions in Gaza are violating human rights obligations in the agreement governing its ties with the EU â but the block is divided over what to do in response.
That public pressure over Israel’s conduct in Gaza made the new humanitarian deal possible even before a ceasefire, said Caspar Veldkamp, the Dutch foreign minister. âThat force of the 27 EU member states is what I want to maintain now,” he said.
âThe humanitarian deal announced last week shows that the Association Agreement review and use of EU leverage has worked,” said one European diplomat.
Spain’s Foreign Minister JosĂ© Manual Albares Bueno said details of the deal were still being discussed and that the EU would monitor results to see if Israel is complying with those.
âWe donât know whether it we will know how it works,â he said. âIt’s very clear that this agreement is not the end â we have to stop the war.”
The war began after Hamas attacked Israel in 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage, most of whom have been released in earlier ceasefires. Israel responded with an offensive that has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gazaâs Health Ministry.
The ministry, which is under Gazaâs Hamas-run government, doesnât differentiate between civilians and combatants. The U.N. and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.
The EU has observed some aid trucks entering Gaza, but ânot enough,â said Hajda Lahbib, the EU Commissioner for humanitarian air and crisis management.
âThe situation is still so dangerous, so violent, with strikes still continuing on the ground, that our humanitarian partners cannot operate. So, this is the reality we need to have a ceasefire,” she said.
