Condemnation of attacks on civilians in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict continues to come strongly, even more so after the death of more than 500 Palestinians in the bombing of a hospital in Gaza. The acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, stressed this morning that “Europe rises today to underline our firm condemnation of terrorism and violence, and our solidarity with the victims”, without distinction of religion or nationality. “Barbarism cannot triumph”denounced the Spanish representative.

In his speech at the plenary session of the European Parliament, in Strasbourg (France), Albares pointed out on behalf of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU that “we woke up overwhelmed by the atrocious attack on the Al-Ahli hospital that left hundreds of Palestinian victims “. “Hospitals and civilians cannot be a target. The suffering of the civilian population of Gaza has to end,” he stressed. “We are also overwhelmed by the brutal terrorist attack suffered by Israel on October 7, which has caused more than a thousand fatalities and two hundred hostages for whom we demand his immediate unconditional release,” he said. “In the face of all this tragedy we convey our solidarity and our support to the families of the victims, their loved ones and the friendly peoples of Israel and Palestine. I also convey my condolences to France, Belgium, and Sweden for the barbaric attacks suffered these days,” he added.

“In the face of this very serious situation Europe has to be faithful to its principles, supporting the fight against terrorism, acting to help the civilian population, keeping high the flag of international humanitarian law and above all keeping high the flag of Peace,” he declared. “We recognize Israel’s right to defend itself against this terrorist attack, a defense that It must be done with the most scrupulous respect for international humanitarian law. The civilian population cannot be victims, humanitarian aid must be allowed access to Gaza, Basic supplies must be guaranteed to the population, water, electricity, food, medicines“, he explained. “We cannot accept the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. We must distinguish, We have to distinguish at all times between terrorist objectives and the civilian population“, he claimed. “European aid and cooperation to the Palestinian National Authority and the Palestinian people should not only not be interrupted, but should be reinforced, which is why the Commission’s announcement that aid will be tripled is very important. humanitarian aid,” he maintained, adding that “with that same objective, Spanish cooperation will contribute an additional 4 million to Palestine between now and the end of the year, reaching 21 million euros, and we have also increased humanitarian aid to Unrwa.”

After Albares, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Policy and Defense, Josep Borrell. “Let us repeat it once again and say that Israel has the right to defend itself (…) But The right to defense, like all rights, has limits. In this case, they are the limits set by international humanitarian law,” he began. Borrell insisted that it is not incompatible to condemn the attacks on Israeli civilians with the condemnation of the attacks on the population in Gaza, which he recalled already exceed 3,000. dead.

This is how he has pointed out the role that the EU must now play. “Firmness, humanity, coherence and a proactive political attitude”, are the four axes that the high representative has indicated to address this conflict in European policy. “Firmness begins with the clear condemnation of Hamas, which cannot be identified with the people of Palestine. For us it is a terrorist organization and it has well demonstrated this with its actions in recent days. Hamas has been boycotting any attempt to make peace,” he denounced.

“Wars are atrocious and what we have seen, what we have explained without still knowing who to attribute the authorship of the massacre in that hospital is another of the horrible faces of war. But Wars also have their rules and are established in international law. Cutting off water and basic supplies to a population is not compatible with the law of war. At this moment there is no more water in Gaza and there are 3,000 dead, a quarter of them children. We cannot hold all Gazans responsible for the criminal actions of Hamas,” Borrell said.