EU urges respect for Gaza ceasefire

The European Union on Wednesday called on “all parties” to respect the Gaza ceasefire, but a senior EU official went further in slamming Israel’s airstrikes on the Palestinian territory.

“We need a chance for peace, not excuses for new strikes,” European Commission vice president Teresa Ribera said in a social media post.

Her criticism of Israel was not echoed by the EU’s executive arm.

“We reiterate our call to all parties to continue to respect the ceasefire,” commission spokesman Anouar El Anouni said, without mentioning Israel’s airstrikes this week that Gaza’s civil defense agency said killed more than 100 people.

“We urge all parties to fully commit to implementing all phases of the plan to end the conflict in Gaza and to refrain from any action that could jeopardize the agreement,” El Anouni added.

“There is no military solution to this conflict,” he said.

The EU executive has performed a delicate balancing act on the Gaza war, as the 27-nation bloc remains divided between Israel’s supporters and countries more sympathetic to the Palestinians.

Ribera, whose EU portfolio does not include foreign policy, is a former member of Spain’s socialist government — one of Europe’s most critical voices of Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Last month, she broke ranks with the commission calling the war in Gaza a “genocide.”

Israel said it had carried out strikes on dozens of Hamas targets with the Palestinian territory experiencing its deadliest night of bombing since a US-brokered truce went into effect earlier this month. Israel has accused Hamas of breaching a ceasefire that started October 10 by not returning the bodies of dead hostages fast enough and killing an Israeli soldier.

Gaza’s civil defense agency said the latest strikes killed more than 100 people, including at least 35 children, a toll confirmed by an AFP tally of medical sources at five hospitals in Gaza.