Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez yesterday became the most prominent European leader to describe the situation in Gaza as a “genocide”, as rescuers in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory said Israeli forces killed 65 people.
After more than 20 months of devastating conflict, human rights groups say Gaza’s population of more than two million face famine-like conditions.
Israel began allowing supplies to trickle in at the end of May following a blockade of more than two months, but distribution has been marred by chaotic scenes and near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on those waiting to collect rations.
Israel meanwhile is pressing its bombardment of the territory, in a military offensive it says is aimed at defeating resistance group Hamas.
Sanchez said Gaza was in a “catastrophic situation of genocide” and urged the European Union to immediately suspend its co-operation deal with Israel.
The comments represent the strongest condemnation to date by the Spanish premier, an outspoken critic of Israel’s offensive who is one of the first European leaders, and the most senior, to use the term “genocide” to describe the situation in Gaza.
Speaking ahead of an EU summit in Brussels, Sanchez mentioned an EU report which found “indications” Israel was breaching its human rights obligations under the co-operation deal, which forms the basis for trade ties.
The director of medical supplies in Gaza’s civil defence agency, Mohammad al-Mughair, said that 65 people had been killed by Israeli forces in the territory yesterday.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal earlier said that several of them were killed while waiting for aid.
The Israeli military said its troops “fired warning shots” in order to prevent “suspects from approaching them” near the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza, where Palestinians gather each night for rations.
Israel’s military campaign has killed at least 56,259 people, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
The United Nations has condemned the “weaponisation of food” in Gaza, and slammed a US- and Israeli-backed foundation that has largely replaced established humanitarian organisations in the territory.