Joint statement on behalf of 26 international partners on the
Occupied Palestinian Territories.
We, the signatories listed below, come together with a simple,
urgent message: the war in Gaza must end now.
The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths. The
Israeli government's aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels
instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity. We condemn the
drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians,
including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of
water and food. It is horrifying that over 800 Palestinians have
been killed while seeking aid. The Israeli Government's denial of
essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is
unacceptable. Israel must comply with its obligations under
international humanitarian law.
The hostages cruelly held captive by Hamas since 7 October 2023
continue to suffer terribly. We condemn their continued detention
and call for their immediate and unconditional release. A
negotiated ceasefire offers the best hope of bringing them home
and ending the agony of their families.
We call on the Israeli government to immediately lift
restrictions on the flow of aid and to urgently enable the UN and
humanitarian NGOs to do their life saving work safely and
effectively.
We call on all parties to protect civilians and uphold the
obligations of international humanitarian law. Proposals to
remove the Palestinian population into a “humanitarian city” are
completely unacceptable. Permanent forced displacement is a
violation of international humanitarian law.
We strongly oppose any steps towards territorial or demographic
change in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The E1 settlement
plan announced by Israel's Civil Administration, if implemented,
would divide a Palestinian state in two, marking a flagrant
breach of international law and critically undermine the
two-state solution. Meanwhile, settlement building across the
West Bank including East Jerusalem has accelerated while settler
violence against Palestinians has soared. This must stop.
We urge the parties and the international community to unite in a
common effort to bring this terrible conflict to an end, through
an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire. Further
bloodshed serves no purpose. We reaffirm our complete support to
the efforts of the US, Qatar and Egypt to achieve this.
We are prepared to take further action to support an immediate
ceasefire and a political pathway to security and peace for
Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region.
This statement has been signed by:
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The Foreign Ministers of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy,
Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, New
Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland and the UK
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The EU Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis
Management
