Gaza City, Palestinian Territories – The European Union’s foreign policy arm has presented 10 options for diplomatic action against Israel after it found “indications” last month that Israel breached human rights obligations in a pact governing its ties with the bloc, reported a wire service.
In a document prepared for EU member countries, the options shared include major steps such as suspending the EU-Israel Association Agreement and more minor actions such as suspending EU-Israel technical projects.
Most of the measures would require the approval of all or most EU member countries. Diplomats say it is not clear whether there is a willingness among a sufficient number of member states to pursue any of them.
In a separate public statement, the EU announced that Israel had agreed to take “significant steps” to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, including an increase in daily deliveries, the reopening of closed aid routes, the distribution of food via facilities throughout the Gaza strip, the resumption of fuel delivery, the protection of aid workers and “vital infrastructure” repair.
Separately, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was “hopeful” about the prospect of a ceasefire in Gaza, telling reporters that negotiations were “closer” than they had been in some time.
“We’re hopeful… It appears that generally the terms have been agreed to, but obviously now you need to have talks about how you implement those terms,” Rubio said on the sidelines of a meeting of Southeast Asian countries in Malaysia.
“I think perhaps we’re closer than we’ve been in quite a while, and we’re hopeful, but we also recognise there are still some challenges in the way.”
He acknowledged that previous rounds of talks had fallen apart at similar stages. “One of the fundamental challenges is Hamas’ unwillingness to disarm, which would end this conflict immediately,” Rubio said.
The top US diplomat added that “the Israelis have shown some flexibility”.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s civil defence agency on Thursday said at least 52 people, including eight children, were killed by Israeli forces in the Palestinian territory battered by more than 21 months of war.
The latest deadly strikes and gunfire came just hours after Hamas, which runs Gaza, announced it was willing to release 10 hostages as part of indirect ceasefire talks with Israel.
Israel has recently expanded its military operations in the Gaza Strip, where the war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the population of more than two million people.
Civil defence official Mohammad al-Mughair told a wire service that 17 people were killed in a strike in front of a medical point in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
The Israeli military told wire service that it “regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible”, adding the incident was under review.
Mughair said eight children and two women were killed in the strike.
Yousef Al-Aydi, 30, said he was among dozens of people, mostly women and children, waiting for nutritional supplements in front of the medical point.
“Suddenly, we heard the sound of a drone approaching, and then the explosion happened,” he told AFP by phone.
“The ground shook beneath our feet, and everything around us turned into blood and deafening screams.”
“What was our fault? What was the fault of the children?” asked Mohammed Abu Ouda, 35, who had also been waiting for supplies.
“I saw a mother hugging her child on the ground, both motionless — they were killed instantly.”
Four people were killed and several injured in a pre-dawn air strike on a family home in Al-Bureij camp in central Gaza, Mughair added.
Footage from Al-Bureij showed a family including three young children sitting among rubble outside their tattered tent after an air strike hit a house next door.
Mughair reported 27 more people killed in bombardments across the territory, including 15 people in five separate strikes in the area of Gaza City.
One person was killed southwest of the southern city of Khan Yunis by “Israeli military fire”, Mughair said.
Three more, including a woman, were killed by Israeli gunfire on civilians near an aid centre in the northwest of nearby Rafah, he added.
More than 600 people have been killed around aid distributions and convoys in Gaza since late May, when Israel began allowing in a trickle of supplies, the United Nations said in early July.
EU mulls diplomatic action against Israel over human rights: report