Borrell spoke ahead of separate talks EU ministers are holding Monday with Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz and the Palestinian Authority’s top diplomat, Riyad al-Maliki.
“We have in mind what Hamas is, what Hamas has done, and certainly we reject and we condemn,” Borell told reporters. “But the peace and stability cannot be built only by military means, and not in this particular way of using military means.”
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Borrell has been among the Western officials who have criticized the number of civilian casualties in Gaza. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says at least 25,105 Palestinians have been killed, many of them women and children. The ministry does not specify the number of civilians and Hamas fighters among the dead.
“The humanitarian situation could not be worse,” Borrell said. “There [are] no words to explain how the situation is, with hundreds of thousands without anything, without shelter, without food, without medicine and under the bombs. And every day, there is a high toll of civilian people being killed.”
Israel has blamed Hamas for putting civilians in danger, saying the militant group intentionally operates in residential areas and in a network of tunnels underneath.
The fighting in Gaza continued Monday with Israeli airstrikes targeting Hamas militants in the northern, central and southern regions.
Airstrikes and fierce fighting were reported in the southern city of Khan Younis, the second-largest city in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its ambulances were unable to reach the wounded in Khan Younis due to Israeli troops besieging the group’s ambulance center.
Israel vowed to destroy Hamas, which governs Gaza, after the militant group sent fighters rampaging into Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli tallies. Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. U.K, EU and others, also took about 240 people hostage.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected a proposal by Hamas to end the war.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Monday that the way Israel is carrying out its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip is “seeding hate for generations.”
Borrell spoke ahead of separate talks EU ministers are holding Monday with Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz and the Palestinian Authority’s top diplomat, Riyad al-Maliki.
“We have in mind what Hamas is, what Hamas has done, and certainly we reject and we condemn,” Borell told reporters. “But the peace and stability cannot be built only by military means, and not in this particular way of using military means.”
Borrell has been among the Western officials who have criticized the number of civilian casualties in Gaza. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says at least 25,105 Palestinians have been killed, many of them women and children. The ministry does not specify the number of civilians and Hamas fighters among the dead.
“The humanitarian situation could not be worse,” Borrell said. “There [are] no words to explain how the situation is, with hundreds of thousands without anything, without shelter, without food, without medicine and under the bombs. And every day, there is a high toll of civilian people being killed.”
Israel has blamed Hamas for putting civilians in danger, saying the militant group intentionally operates in residential areas and in a network of tunnels underneath.
The fighting in Gaza continued Monday with Israeli airstrikes targeting Hamas militants in the northern, central and southern regions.
Airstrikes and fierce fighting were reported in the southern city of Khan Younis, the second-largest city in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its ambulances were unable to reach the wounded in Khan Younis due to Israeli troops besieging the group’s ambulance center.
Israel vowed to destroy Hamas, which governs Gaza, after the militant group sent fighters rampaging into Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli tallies. Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. U.K, EU and others, also took about 240 people hostage.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected a proposal by Hamas to end the war.
