EU foreign ministers for the first time took part in a “significant” discussion of sanctions against Israel in case of non-compliance with international law, according to Politico.
Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin announced that on Monday, May 27.
There was a very clear consensus about the need to uphold the international humanitarian legal institutions.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on Friday that Israel must immediately halt its offensive on Rafah and open the border crossing to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza unhindered. However, Israel subsequently continued its operations in Rafah and bombed the refugee camp on Sunday. As a result, at least 45 Palestinians died, according to Gaza health authorities.
EU leaders strongly condemned the attack. Italy’s former PM and head of the 5-Star Movement (M5S), Giuseppe Conte, called for a halt to “the madness of Netanyahu’s Israeli government.”
“More civilians, women, children massacred. Burned alive in a tent city of a refugee camp. How does Europe react? And will the Meloni government continue with abstentions? By turning the other way we write a page of shame in our history. Let’s stop the madness of Netanyahu’s Israeli government!”
Martin stated that there was “some distance between people,” articulating the need for sanctions if Israel did not comply with the ICJ ruling.
For the first time at an EU meeting, in a real way, I’ve seen significant discussion on sanctions and ‘what if.’ But there is a lot of concern … amongst member states in respect of what is a clear situation where the ICJ have ruled, made provisional orders, and the EU has always upheld the independence of that court and the need for nations to comply with it.
The Irish Minister said that EU foreign ministers had decided “to convene a meeting of the EU-Israeli Association Council” to seek a response from Israel in terms of implementing the Court’s rulings.
“International humanitarian law, adherence to human rights, is the raison d’etre of the European Union. Accountability is very important. It’s important to all those who were murdered by Hamas, that there would be accountability for what Hamas did, for the thousands of Palestinians who’ve been brutally killed throughout this war.”
Israeli officials stated that before the strike, “it was assessed that there would be no unexpected harm to civilians.” They added that the IDF General Staff’s Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism is “investigating the circumstances of the deaths of civilians in the area after the strike.”
