The extremely serious situation that has been experienced in the Gaza Strip for four months, the imminent offensive in the city of Rafah, in which the prospects for the population are increasingly gloomy, led this Monday to the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, to raise the need to stop sending weapons to Israel.
Borrell regretted that, despite the fact that more and more countries consider Israel's attacks as “disproportionate” and “excessive,” including the president of the United States, Joe Biden, Israel continues to be supported by sending weapons and that It is time for there to be more than words. “Let's be logical: how many times have you heard the most prominent leaders and foreign ministers in the world say that many people are being killed?” Borrell asked at a press conference of Cooperation Ministers. “President Biden has said that it is too much, that it is not proportionate. Well, if you think that a lot of people are being killed, maybe you should send fewer weapons,” said the head of European diplomacy, who recalled that it would not be the first time that Washington acts like this, it already suspended the delivery of weapons to Israel in 2006. , during the Lebanon war.
Borrell has lamented that it is “a little contradictory” that several leaders go to Tel Aviv “begging, please, stop killing civilians, there are too many people dead. Please don't kill so many, please stop. Stop saying please, and do something,” urged the high representative for Foreign Policy.
In any case, he regretted that the Israeli Prime Minister, Beniamin Netanyahu, “does not listen to anyone,” and that the country's government has announced that they will “evacuate” the population to intensify the military offensive in the city of Rafah, south of Loop. “When there is a war, people escape, but people in Gaza cannot escape. They are with the doors closed. "They are being bombed without being able to escape," said Borrell (...) Where are they going to evacuate them, to the moon?" He said ironically.
Borrell made these statements after meeting with the commissioner general of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, to whom he informed that the European Union, the agency's main global donor, will maintain the funds for the duration of the investigation that the organization has opened following accusations that A dozen workers participated with Hamas in the attack on October 7.
Brussels does not have any payments planned until the end of February, a total of 82 million euros.
Lazzarini assured that they took the accusations very seriously, and that is why they acted accordingly, although Borrell stressed that, for the moment, they are only accusations. “For now, I have not received any proof,” he added. Following the scandal, eighteen countries have announced the freezing of aid to the agency, including Japan, France and Germany, on which thousands of people depend every day.
If the situation does not change, UNRWA will begin to have funding problems in March, with a deficit that will “increase negatively from April.”
