BRUSSELS: EU foreign ministers will hold a series of meetings on Monday with counterparts from Israel, the Palestinian Authority and key Arab nations about the war in Gaza and prospects for a future peace settlement, officials said. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz and his Palestinian counterpart Riyad al Maliki are not expected to meet each other during their Brussels visits.
The foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia will also meet with European ministers in Brussels as fears swirl that a wider conflict could engulf the Middle East. European diplomats said their aim is to sound out each side over ways to end the violence on the ground and the next steps towards a longer-term solution. The EU has struggled for a united stance on the conflict in Gaza as staunch backers of Israel such as Germany have rejected demands for an immediate ceasefire from the likes of Spain and Ireland.
Israel has vowed to "annihilate" Hamas in response and its relentless air and ground offensive has killed at least 24,620 Palestinians, around 70 percent of them women, children and adolescents, according to figures from the Hamas-run health ministry. EU officials have sketched out broad demands for "the day after" the current war ends in Gaza, calling for no long-term Israeli occupation, an end to Hamas's rule and a role for the Palestinian Authority in running the territory.
The 27-nation bloc -- along with the United States -- believes the creation of a Palestinian state remains the only viable way to secure a lasting peace. But Israel's right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday flatly rejected that suggestion. Meanwhile, gunfire and air strikes on Friday shook Gaza's city of Khan Yunis, witnesses said, where Israel is pressing its southward push against Hamas fighters. The Palestinian Red Crescent reported intense artillery fire near the city's Al Amal hospital, while the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said 77 people were killed and dozens wounded overnight.
At the city's Al Nasser hospital, a child with a bloodied face cried on a gurney. Ambulances arrived with the injured and the dead while in the darkened city beyond, automatic weapons fire sounded. An orange fireball flashed above rooftops. Israel says it still expects the war to continue for months.
But a divide over Gaza's post-war future with key ally the United States came into sharp focus after Washington again stressed the creation of a Palestinian state as the only way to guarantee Israel's long-term security. The United Nations says the war, has displaced roughly 85 per cent of Gaza's people. UN agencies say improved aid access is needed urgently as famine and disease loom, but a communications blackout which continued Friday for an eighth day only added to the challenges.
Loss of connectivity "prevents people in Gaza from accessing lifesaving information or calling for first responders and impedes other forms of humanitarian response," said the UN humanitarian agency, OCHA. The October 7 attacks resulted in the deaths of about 1,140 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to a tally based on official Israeli figures. - AFP
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