EU leaders call for routine 'pauses' from shelling to allow aid to reach civilians in Gaza

Statement urges 'continued, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access and aid to reach those in need through all necessary measures including humanitarian corridors' and 'pauses for humanitarian needs'

Picture: Virginia Mayo/AP

EU leaders finally agreed a statement calling on Israel to allow for routine "pauses" from its shelling of Gaza to allow humanitarian aid to reach civilians.

The text calls for "continued, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access and aid to reach those in need through all necessary measures including humanitarian corridors" and "pauses for humanitarian needs".

In a statement released after several hours of talks into the late evening, Brussels reiterated Israel’s right to defend itself in line with international humanitarian law — the rules in which armed conflict is conducted and designed to minimise civilian casualties and unnecessary suffering.

It also calls on Hamas to release all hostages, and deplores the use of civilians as human shields as a "particularly deplorable atrocity".

Leaders also expressed their "gravest concern" for the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza and said they "deplore all loss of civilian life".

It took several hours of negotiations to decide on a specific language as some members — Austria, Czech Republic, and Germany wanted to ensure that the request did not appear to interfere with Israel’s right to defend itself.

Over the course of the last week, and into the night on Thursday, heads of state and government wrangled over whether the EU should call for a "pause" or "pauses" so as to allow various, limited periods when humanitarian aid could access the Gaza strip unhindered by bombs, and where civilians could move with relative safety to receive the water, food, and medicines.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said Ireland was "not obsessed" by the language as long as the result gave Gazan civilians some respite from the grave humanitarian situation they are enduring.

“We have to support Israel in defending its country against Hamas and step-up humanitarian aid for Palestinians who are, after all also victims of Hamas's barbaric practices," German chancellor Olaf Scholtz told reporters at the summit.

The EU was under pressure to form a consensus on the issue after a few weeks of opaque messaging from various European institutions and members. 

But given the staunch positions of some countries, none was immediately possible.

EU sources have privately criticised European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen for her one-sided position in support of Israel; without reiterating the country's legal obligation to uphold the rights of civilians during conflict.

Brussels is also concerned about the regional reverberations if the conflict between Israel and Hamas deepens and has committed to engage with partners including the Palestinian Authority.

The Taoiseach said the message he was conveying to his counterparts included a warning to his counterparts not to "fall into the trap" laid by Hamas through its massacre of Israeli civilians — the worst single atrocity against Jewish people since the Holocaust.

He said part of Hamas’s plan was to trigger a "provocation with a view to making Israel invade Gaza in the hope that they would escalate tensions in the region".