One of the European Union’s most senior officials on Thursday called the war in Gaza a “genocide”, ramping up criticism of Israel and slamming the 27-nation bloc for failing to act to stop it.
“The genocide in Gaza exposes Europe’s failure to act and speak with one voice,” European Commission vice president Teresa Ribera said during a speech in Paris.
Top EU officials have so far shied away from calling Israel’s actions in the territory a “genocide”. One spokesman said it was for the courts to make a legal judgement on whether genocide was happening.
The EU has struggled to take steps over the war in Gaza due to deep divisions between member states pushing for action against Israel and those backing the country.
The splits are also present inside the EU’s executive, where Spanish commissioner Ribera has expressed frustration over the failure to push on the issue.
Ribera’s use of the term “genocide” could put more pressure on EU commission chief Ursula von der Leyen to take a tougher stance against Israel.
Von der Leyen’s commission in July proposed cutting funding to Israeli start-ups over the war in Gaza, but so far the move has not got the backing of a majority of countries.
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,231 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.
Nearly two years into the devastating conflict, Israel has built up its forces in recent days, with troops operating on the outskirts of Gaza City, the Palestinian territory’s largest urban centre.
The United Nations estimates that nearly one million people live in and around Gaza City in the territory’s north, where it has declared famine.
