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20 EU officials in Gaza to assess humanitarian needs

November 24, 2021 at 2:01 pm

Members of a EU delegation listen to a employee during a visit to a desalination plant in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, on November 24, 2021 [SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images]

Twenty European Union (EU) diplomats arrived this morning in the besieged Gaza Strip to assess the humanitarian situation there.

Shadi Othman, the spokesman for the European Union office in Jerusalem, told WAFA news agency that this is the largest European diplomatic delegation to visit the Gaza Strip at one time.

The two-day visit aims to allow officials to see firsthand the developments in Gaza and to send a political message calling for lifting the inhumane blockade on Gaza and healing the national rift in the Palestinian arena in a way that would allow the Palestinian government to fully perform its duties in Gaza to the fullest.

The delegation is going to meet with a number of Palestinian officials, national figures, and citizens to listen to them about the latest developments and situations on the ground.

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The diplomats intend to visit strawberry farms in Beit Lahia and As-Sudaniya area in northern Gaza and meet with farmers.

They will also visit the water desalination plant in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, the Rafah border crossing with Egypt and the Karm Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) commercial crossing with Israel before holding a news conference at the fishermen port in the west of Gaza City, according to Othman.