While expectations for a major breakthrough were modest, Tuesday’s meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels delivered what analysts say is a small but significant development: EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas announced a review of the bloc’s trade partnership with Israel, marking the first formal step in response to mounting calls for stronger action over the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
As Israel intensifies the military offensive that it began in early May in and around the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, and continues to maintain a tight control on aid entering Gaza, pressure has been mounting on Brussels from several EU member states to send a strong signal to the Israeli government.
On Tuesday, Kallas announced that the European Commission would review the EU-Israel Association Agreement — a free trade pact that governs political and economic relations between the two sides.
Though she welcomed news that Israel had allowed some humanitarian aid to enter Gaza after a weeks-long blockade, which exacerbated severe shortages of food and medicine, she said this was a “drop in the ocean” given the situation was “catastrophic.”
The United Nations said on Tuesday it had received permission to send some 100 trucks of aid into Gaza, as humanitarian assistance began to trickle back into the territory.
But it has said in the past that 500 trucks of aid and commercial goods are needed every day.
In March, Israel broke a temporary ceasefire with the Gaza-based militant group Hamas, and tightened restrictions on humanitarian access again.
In April, the European Union announced a three-year financial support package for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, worth up to €1.6 billion ($1.8 billion).
Kallas underlined that this support needed to find its way in. “It is European money funding this aid, and it must reach the people.”
‘Wholly disproportionate’
The meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels came just after the leaders of France, the UK and Canada issued a rare joint statement condemning Israel’s latest offensive in Gaza and described its restrictions on aid as being “wholly disproportionate,” and possibly in breach of international humanitarian law. They warned of “further concrete actions” if humanitarian access was not restored — but stopped short of defining what those actions might be.
“We are reaching a tipping point,” said Hugh Lovatt, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations in an interview with DW. “The scale of destruction, the forced displacement, the collapse of humanitarian infrastructure — this exceeds the bounds of any reasonable self-defense.”
Over the past 18 months, Israel has continually maintained that its military campaign in Gaza is a legitimate response to the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, in which around 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage, citing its right to self-defense under international law.
Spain calls for sanctions
Some EU member states, notably Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, and France have called for a formal review of the bloc’s trade relations with Israel. These are governed by the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which includes a clause — Article 2 — that allows for it to be suspended in cases of serious human rights violations.
“Once [human rights] violations are established then the [accord] can be suspended,” said French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in Paris on Tuesday, adding that such a decision would have an impact on trade with Israel.
Lovatt pointed out “that Israel has long benefited from a sense of exceptionalism within the EU and was protected by political sensitivities.” He explained that this had shielded the country from the full application of international and EU law. “This is where we see that EU has engaged in double standards with Israel, which go unchallenged.”
Invoking Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, Lovatt said, was not only legally justified but long overdue. “The EU has used similar legal tools at least 26 times in the past in response to human rights breaches by other partner countries this is not reinventing the wheel.” He cited the example of significant sanctions being imposed on the Russian financial sector after Russia’s annexation of Crimea and later its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He said this went far beyond anything currently under consideration against Israel.
EU is divided
Since October 2023, EU states such as Germany, Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic have strongly supported Israel’s right to self-defense and have been hesitant to endorse any punitive measures.
Germany has repeatedly emphasized its historical responsibility toward Israel, with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visiting the country earlier this month to mark 60 years of diplomatic ties and meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — even as the Israeli leader faces an open investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes in Gaza. The visit highlights the difficult balancing act for many EU governments, which maintain close ties with Israel while it is facing growing international scrutiny.
Other EU member states, particularly Ireland, Belgium and Spain and more recently France, have been more vocal about their frustration about Israel’s military operations in Gaza and the ongoing humanitarian crisis there.
On Tuesday, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares called for sanctions against Israel and urged the EU to act decisively to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.
But James Moran, a former EU ambassador to the Middle East and now senior fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), said the internal rifts over Israel’s actions in Gaza had effectively sidelined the EU.
It is “politically paralyzed,” he told DW. “Without unanimity, the most it can do is fund humanitarian aid and support diplomatic efforts led by others.”
From EU to national level
With little EU-wide action in sight, several countries have taken matters into their own hands. Norway, Ireland, and Spain all formally recognized the statehood of Palestine last year and there is speculation that France and Belgium might soon do the same. This sends a clear message, underlined Lovatt: if the EU fails to act collectively, individual member states are prepared to move ahead on their own.
“For too long, the EU has relied on the Oslo process as a political crutch,” he said. “But that process is effectively dead. Continuing to pretend otherwise only undermines European interests.”
The Oslo Process began after the signing of the Oslo Accords, a series of peace agreements in the 1990s between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). They were intended to lay the groundwork for a two-state solution, but over time the process has lost credibility due to stalled negotiations and continued violence.
Test of credibility
As the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepens, expectations are rising for Brussels to translate its rhetoric into action and fully use the tools at its disposal.
“The EU is a very important political player, economic player and also humanitarian player,” underlined Abdullah Al Rabeeah, the head of the Saudi King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center. “We now have to put our hands together with the international community to put the necessary pressure on Israel to open all the corridors and allow humanitarian aid to to reach those who are in need.”
Moran dismissed Israel’s repeated claims that humanitarian aid was being diverted to Hamas. “That’s largely propaganda,” he said. “Diversion may happen in isolated cases, but the bigger issue is Israel’s use of aid restrictions as a weapon of war. The UN has said as much.”
“European credibility as a global actor is being tested in Gaza,” said Lovatt. “If the EU cannot respond here, where its own laws, values, and interests are all at stake, then where can it?”
Edited by: A. Thomas
