European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell looks on during a meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, November 17, 2023. Nasser Nasser/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
BARCELONA, Nov 27 (Reuters) – A four-day truce is an important first step in the Israel-Hamas conflict, but much more is needed to find a way out of the crisis, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said on Monday.
Borrell said he regretted that Israel had not attended a Forum for the Union of the Mediterranean on Monday in Barcelona. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al Maliki and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan will address the meeting as representatives of a group of ministers from the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
Borrell said he hoped a four-day truce agreed last week would last “a few more days”.
The truce is the first halt in fighting in the seven weeks since Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages back into Gaza.
In response to that attack, Israel has bombarded the enclave and mounted a ground offensive in the north. Some 14,800 Palestinians have been killed, Gaza health authorities say, and hundreds of thousands displaced.
Borrell called for Israel not to “recolonize” Gaza, saying both Palestinians and Israelis had an “equal and legitimate right to the same land”.
A Palestinian state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza was the “best guarantee” for “Israel’s security and peace”, he added.
Reporting by Joan Faus; Writing by Emma Pinedo; Editing by Aislinn Laing and Ed Osmond
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