European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday made a veiled call for the United States to cut arms supplies to Israel because of the high number of civilian casualties in the Gaza war.
Borrell stressed that US President Joe Biden said last week that Israel’s response to the 7 October Hamas attack was “excessive” and that American and other Western officials have repeatedly said that too many civilians are dying in Gaza. He told reporters:
“Well, if you believe that too many people are being killed, maybe you should provide less arms in order to prevent so many people being killed. If the international community believes that this is a slaughter, that too many people are being killed, maybe we have to think about the provision of arms.”
The Israel-Hamas war has killed 28,473 Palestinians and injured another 68,146, according to Gaza health authorities.
The US provides $3.8 billion in military aid to Israel each year, ranging from fighter jets to powerful bombs. Washington has so far failed to heed requests to cut that aid.
Asked at a press briefing about Borrell’s comments and whether the US was considering cutting military aid to Israel, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller defended the US policy, saying it gives the administration the “maximum opportunity” to successfully influence Israel. He said:
“We have not made the assessment that (…) that is a step that would be more impactful than the steps that we have already taken.”
Borrell also noted that on Monday, a Dutch court ordered the Dutch government to block all exports of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel over concerns that they were being used to violate international law during the Gaza war.
He said it is contradictory when countries repeatedly say Israel is killing too many civilians in Gaza but do nothing concrete to prevent the killings.
Israel claims it is taking all measures to protect civilians but is forced to conduct military operations in civilian areas because Hamas, the Palestinian militant group responsible for the 7 October attack, is operating there.
This claim has been refuted by human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, which recently revealed that four Israeli strikes in Gaza appear to have deliberately targeted civilians and should be investigated as a war crime.
