EU foreign policy chief voices hope for ceasefire in Gaza soon

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell today expressed hope that a ceasefire can soon be reached to stop the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

“There is a negotiation that is still ongoing, and we all hope that an agreement can be reached in the coming days,” he told Spanish public radio RNE.

On his discussions with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday during a visit to Washington, Borrell said the US insists on the release of all Israeli prisoners of war by Hamas for the ceasefire to be a lasting one.

Regarding the ongoing efforts to send more humanitarian aid to Gaza, he said: “Before the war, 500 trucks entered a day, if there is no other option, better by sea than not at all. But let’s be realistic, a traffic of 500 trucks cannot be replaced by dropping food by parachute.”

More than 31,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza and over 73,000 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities at the hand of Israel since 7 October last year.

The Israeli war has pushed 85 per cent of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of most food, clean water and medicine, while 60 per cent of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

READ: EU accuses Israel of using starvation as weapon of war in Gaza