ST PETERSBURG, Russia: The European Union accused Israel yesterday of a disproportionate use of force against Palestinians in Gaza and of making a humanitarian crisis there worse.

It was the first time the 25-nation bloc had made such a sharp criticism of the Jewish state in the crisis triggered by the abduction of an Israeli corporal from a border post by Palestinian Islamic militants on June 25.

“The EU condemns the loss of lives caused by disproportionate use of force by the Israeli Defence Forces and the humanitarian crisis it has aggravated,” Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said in a statement on a visit to St Petersburg.

It was released after 23 Palestinians were killed in the bloodiest day of fighting since 2004 on Thursday in military operations designed to stop rockets being fired into Israel.

“The EU is extremely concerned about the situation between Israel and the Palestinians which has further deteriorated over the last days,” the statement said.

The EU called for the unconditional release of the abducted Israeli soldier, an end to the firing of rockets on Israeli territory and the release of Palestinian legislators and ministers detained by Israel.

The statement reflected mounting public concern in Europe, voiced in a debate in the European Parliament on Wednesday.

“All parties must refrain from actions which create further difficulties for the speedy return to negotiations on the peace process,” the EU statement said.

Negotiations collapsed in 2000 and have not resumed, although Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met briefly in Jordan last month and agreed to hold a more substantive meeting soon.

*The European Commission announced yesterday that it had allocated 34mn euros ($43mn) in humanitarian aid to people in need in the Palestinian territories as well as in Lebanon.

The funds are to be used to deliver food, provide badly-needed jobs and health support, as well as water and sanitation services, the EU’s executive body said in a statement in Brussels.

“I am deeply concerned about the sharp deterioration of the humanitarian situation and increased hardship among the population in the West Bank and Gaza,” said Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel.

“The rising internal insecurity resulting from the worsening humanitarian situation, and Israeli movement restrictions, make access for humanitarian operations more difficult,” he said.

The aid is the 22nd package for the territories since the second Palestinian uprising in September 2000, in which more than 5,000 people have died, most of them Palestinians.

Funds to south Lebanon will be used to help people in refugee camps by providing legal aid, job training and non-food assistance, the commission said.

The money is part of the commission’s ongoing aid to the Palestinians and is separate from the international “mechanism”, which was supposed to disburse funds to Palestinians while bypassing the Hamas-led government. However, its operation has been slowed by unrest in the Palestinian territories. - Agencies