EU leaders will hold emergency talks on the Gaza war by video-link on Tuesday (17 October), while the European Commission has announced it is tripling Palestine humanitarian aid.
It was “of utmost importance” that the EU “sets our common position and establishes a clear unified course of action,” EU Council chief Charles Michel said in his summit invitation on Sunday.
The talks would cover “regional escalation of the conflict”, its potential “to exacerbate tensions between communities and feed extremism” in the EU, and the “risk of onward migratory waves to Europe,” he added.
Meanwhile, the €50m commission boost for humanitarian aid in Gaza comes after a week of Israeli air-fire killed at least 2,300 Palestinians and displaced more than 1 million people.
The commission is still in talks with NGOs and UN agencies to see where to channel the extra funds.
Israel has also cut off water, food, medicine, and electricity supplies to the Strip.
Humanitarian aid aside, the EU commission pays over €200m a year in other “development” funding to Palestinians.
Andrew Rettman