EU’s Borrell condemns Israel’s ‘appalling lack of distinction’ in besieged enclave

The EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell yesterday described Israel’s “lack of distinction” between civilians and military targets as “appalling”.

His comments came as the US, the UK, Germany and France increased pressure on Israel to tone down its bombardments on the Gaza Strip as the death toll neared 20,000.

“Certainly, we are witnessing an appalling lack of distinction in Israel’s military operation in Gaza,” wrote Mr Borrell on X. He referred to reports on Sunday of an Israeli soldier shooting dead two Christian women, an elderly mother and her daughter, in the grounds of a Catholic church in Gaza.

He also highlighted the recent killing of three Israeli hostages – shirtless and waving white flags – by Israeli soldiers who ignored orders not to fire.

“This must stop – a humanitarian pause is urgently needed,” said Mr Borrell.

He speaks on behalf of the EU’s 27 member states. In late October, its leaders agreed on a call for “humanitarian corridors and pauses for humanitarian needs” but failed to update that language at a meeting in Brussels on Friday.

Though most countries including France and Spain said the bloc should unite behind a call for a ceasefire, EU heavyweight and staunch Israeli ally Germany remains hesitant.

EU leaders asked Mr Borrell to draw up a list of violent Israeli settlers for discussions on banning them from Europe.

“Measures will be taken” against them, said French Foreign Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna during a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories on Sunday.

Attacks by extremist settlers on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are widely viewed as hindering a two-state solution to the conflict.

Ms Colonna also reiterated France’s call for an “immediate and durable” truce in Gaza.

“France could play a positive and crucial role in preventing a war in Lebanon,” Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said at a joint press conference.

Ms Colonna was scheduled to land in Beirut yesterday in a bid to de-escalate the Israel-Gaza war. France, a former colonial power in the region, is worried about the conflict spilling over into Lebanon, a country in which Paris is more diplomatically invested than any other European nation.

As outrage grows over human suffering in Gaza, Germany slightly shifted its position over the weekend.

The World Health Organisation, which reached Gaza’s Al Shifa Hospital on Sunday, described it as resembling a “bloodbath.”

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock co-signed a letter with UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron in The Sunday Times calling for a “sustainable ceasefire”.

The UK and Germany said Israel should be allowed to press on with its military objective of eliminating Hamas from Gaza.

But they also asked Israel to “do more to discriminate sufficiently between terrorists and civilians” and allow more aid to reach “ordinary Palestinians”.

Israel needs to shift to more precise targeting of Hamas, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Friday.