Statement by High Representative / Vice-President Kaja Kallas on the Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question – United Nations Security Council, 10003rd[...]

Statement by High Representative / Vice-President Kaja Kallas on the Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question - United Nations Security Council, 10003rd meeting

Dear President,

Excellencies,

If a military solution were possible in Gaza, Israel's war on Hamas would already be over and the hostages would have been released.

Instead, the war continues, and the famine has set in; a famine that was avoidable, had aid been let in.

We have a collective responsibility to change this situation.

And so I repeat here the calls for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages and humanitarian aid into Gaza at scale.

Europe has been the most active global actor in Gaza. We are the largest humanitarian donor. We have helped the Palestinians more than any other.

We negotiated with the Israeli government a humanitarian understanding with specific benchmarks. Since then, more trucks have entered Gaza, more aid was delivered, the Jordanian and Egyptian routes were reopened and repairs to critical infrastructure were carried out. In August, a ship carrying 1,200 tonnes of aid departed from Limassol, Cyprus. Further shipments will continue.

But we all know it is not enough. That is why the European Union is pulling other levers to try and push the Israeli government to change its course of action.

We recently proposed:

• sanctions on extremist ministers in the Israeli Government;
• sanctions on violent settlers in the West Bank and entities supporting their impunity;
• additional sanctions on Hamas terrorists;
• and the suspension of trade concessions with Israel.

This is a message to the current Israeli government: change course and address the human suffering.

In addition, another fundamental question hangs over us: how to square Israel's legitimate right to live in safety and security with a future Palestinian state.

We have always believed that there is one answer, two states, side by side.

As we saw during yesterday's conference, the weight of the world is behind the Two-State Solution.

The European Union has worked hard to make this possible.

The European Union is also the leading supporter of the Palestinian Authority. We will provide 1.6 billion euro over the next three years. We also kept Palestinian institutions functioning during this war, including education. We have now launched a forum to finance a future for the Palestinian people - the Palestine Donor Forum.

And the Global Alliance remains the best mechanism for discussions on how to turn commitments into actions.

There must be a turning point in this war.

And it cannot be at the expense of either the viability of a Palestinian state or the legitimate concerns of Israel.

We have the power to change the course of this conflict, to see the release of the remaining hostages, to prevent further civilian suffering, and see an end to this war.

Thank you.