EU urged to rethink ties with Israel over Gaza and impose sanctions

Brussels: The European Union must rethink its relations with Israel as the death toll mounts in Gaza and the West Bank and impose sanctions on some Israeli government ministers accused of fomenting racial hatred, Ireland and the bloc's top diplomat said on Thursday.

At a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Ireland's foreign minister accused Israel of deliberately targeting civilians as well as Hamas militants with the military campaign it launched almost 11 months ago.

“This is a war against Palestinians not just against Hamas. The level of civilian casualties and dead is unconscionable,” Micheal Martin told reporters. “It's a war on the population. No point in trying to fudge this.”

Israel's offensive in Gaza has killed over 40,000 people, according to local health officials, displaced 90 per cent of the population and destroyed its main cities. Hamas has lost thousands of fighters and much of its militant infrastructure.

Violence has also surged in the West Bank since Hamas' October 7 attack inside Israel ignited the war there. Israel launched a large-scale operation in the West Bank this week, in which Hamas said 10 of its fighters were killed in different locations.

Martin said a legal opinion issued by the International Court of Justice that Israel's occupation of Gaza and the West Bank is unlawful obliges the EU to take action.

The Palestinians have hailed it as “a watershed moment for Palestine”. “It cannot be business as usual,” Martin told reporters. “It is very clear to us that international humanitarian law has been broken.”

Pauses in Gaza fighting for polio shots

The UN World Health Organisation announced Thursday that there will be limited pauses in fighting in Gaza to allow for polio vaccinations for hundreds of thousands of children after a baby contracted the first confirmed case in 25 years in the Palestinian territory.

Described as “humanitarian pauses” that will last three days in different areas the vaccination campaign will start Sunday. (AP)