Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – In an interview published on Thursday, European Commission’s Executive Vice President, Teresa Ribera, also a senior member of the European Union’s executive, said the displacement and killing in Gaza looked very much like genocide.
Ribera is the European Commission’s Executive Vice President, just below President Ursula von der Leyen. The Spanish socialist policymaker’s portfolio includes climate and antitrust issues.
What did Teresa Ribera say about Gaza violence?
“If it is not genocide, it looks very much like the definition used to express its meaning,”
Teresa Ribera said.
“What we are seeing is a concrete population being targeted, killed and condemned to starve to death,”
Ribera said.
“A concrete population is confined, with no homes — being destroyed — no food, water or medicines — being forbidden to access — and subject to bombing and shooting even when they are trying to get humanitarian aid. Any humanity is absent, and no witness[es] are allowed,”
she further said.
What actions has the European Commission proposed recently?
Last week, the Commission also proposed limiting Israel’s access to its top research funding program following pressure from EU nations to push Israel to ease the humanitarian crisis in the enclave. The proposal stated that Israel breached a human rights clause in the agreement that manages its relations with the EU.
“Israel has committed horrific acts and atrocities by intervening in the Gaza Strip and the resulting humanitarian catastrophe, including thousands of civilian deaths, and increasingly horrifying levels of growing extreme malnutrition, specifically of children, which breaches human rights and humanitarian law,”
it noted.
What did Ursula von der Leyen state regarding Gaza?
In addition, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, has condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza, where she considered those actions to be “abhorrent” and considered the images from Gaza to be “unbearable”.
She also called for the immediate, free, safe and rapid flow of humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza and for Israel to abide by both international law and humanitarian law.
How many civilians have died in Gaza so far?
The conflict began when Hamas launched an attack on Israeli communities and military installations near Gaza on October 7, 2023. Approximately 1,200 people lost their lives, including over 700 civilians, and 251 hostages were taken to Gaza.
As reported, Israel’s military strikes have severely impacted the small, densely populated enclave, resulting in over 61,000 deaths, mostly civilians, according to Palestinian health sources. Israel consistently claims its operations in Gaza are acts of self-defence and accuses Hamas of employing civilians as human shields—an allegation the militants deny. Israel has also consistently denied allegations of committing genocide in its Gaza conflict.
