The European Union’s foreign policy chief joined calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza

The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, joined this Monday at the request of American Vice President Kamala Harris. An immediate ceasefire in GazaThe United Nations Security Council is expected to demand it in a resolution backed by the United States.

” I join the Vice President of the United States in calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. There should be no obstruction to a United Nations Security Council resolution to this effect.“said the head of European diplomacy in a message on social networks.

In this sense, he affirmed that “it is time” for the Security Council to “act” that Harris referred to the high number of victims in the Strip and urged Israel to allow unimpeded humanitarian access.

The United States has been vetoing Security Council resolutions that call for a cease-fire in the Strip, the latest example being an Algerian proposal two weeks ago that included a demand for an immediate cease-fire, while Washington advocates for a cease-fire. “temporary” fire.

Harris this Sunday defended the need for A “Immediate Ceasefire” From the symbolic city of Selma in the Gaza Strip, to Alabama, the symbol of the struggle for civil rights in the United States.

“Given the enormous dimensions of the suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate cease-fire,” she said during her speech at an event marking the anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, and was immediately interrupted by applause and cheers from attendees.

It is not the first time that the European Union’s high representative has echoed Washington’s demands in the framework of the Israeli offensive against Gaza in an effort to increase pressure on Tel Aviv and reinforce messages that its main ally is to end hostilities in the Strip.

The President of the UN General Assembly, Denis Francis, this Monday called the situation in Gaza “Catastrophic, Unthinkable, Shameful”, after 30,000 deaths from bombings and starvation were already recorded.

Francis spoke at the opening of a special session of the assembly, called by the United States on February 20, to explain its latest veto in the Security Council – the third since the war in Gaza began – of a resolution calling for it to stop. Unconditional and immediate fire.

Francis, who was clearly in favor of the truce, said he felt “Shocked and appalled by the killing or injury of hundreds of people” During a food delivery last week.

In his speech, he went beyond the usual diplomatic balance and did not hesitate to name Israel: “Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian access (to Gaza) have drastically reduced the flow of vital aid,” and he regretted that the flow of aid fell by 50%. From January to February.

Francis was hit back by the United States’ deputy ambassador, Robert Woods, who once again justified his latest veto because, according to him, a ceasefire resolution would jeopardize the “intense efforts” his country is undertaking with Qatar. Egypt to seek a “temporary ceasefire” conditional on the release of hostages held by Hamas.

Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour, who showed assembly delegates photographs of Palestinian children stunted for lack of food and who ended his speech with a broken voice, protested because “Israel considers itself above the law, and when that belief “do not break it. , it will continue to function as an illegitimate state.”

Mansour lamented that there are people “with a much higher limit of tolerance for the death of Palestinians than Israelis” and that they consider Palestinians “an inferior race and it is difficult to see us as victims.”

“Israel gives us Palestinians three options: displacement, subjugation or death. Ethnic cleansing, apartheid or genocide,” he concluded.

As for Israel’s representative, Gilad Erdan, he recalled that the only acceptable conditions for a cease-fire were “the elimination of Hamas: rapists, mass murderers should never have free access to the UN.”

In addition, he again attacked the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) as a tool of Hamas and therefore said it should be “fundamentalized and dismantled.”

(with information from EP and EFE)