<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The foreign ministers of Spain and 25 other countries issued a joint statement on Monday warning that the war in Gaza must "end now," denouncing the "drip feeding" of humanitarian aid and the murder of "more than 800 Palestinians while seeking help," describing the "forced displacement" of the Palestinian population as "unacceptable," and expressing their "full support" for the peace efforts of the United States, Qatar, and Egypt.</strong></h4> “We, the signatories listed below, come together with a simple, urgent message: the war in Gaza must end now,” begins the statement, signed by the foreign ministers of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Slovenia, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Switzerland, as well as by the EU Commissioner for Equality, Crisis Preparedness and Management. “The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths,” the statement continues. “The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability, and deprives Gazans of human dignity,” it continues. “We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food. “It is horrifying that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking help,” the statement reads. “The Israeli Government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law,” it warns. Furthermore, the text states that “the hostages cruelly” held by Hamas since October 7, 2023, “continue to suffer terribly.” “We condemn their continued detention and call for their immediate and unconditional release. A negotiated ceasefire offers the best hope of bringing them home and ending the agony of their families,” it adds. The signatories also call on the Israeli government to “immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid and urgently allow the United Nations and humanitarian NGOs to do their life-saving work safely and effectively.” Furthermore, they urge “all parties to protect civilians and uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law.” “Proposals to remove the Palestinian population into a ‘humanitarian city’ are completely unacceptable. Permanent forced displacement is a violation of international humanitarian law,” they warn. “We strongly oppose any steps towards territorial or demographic change in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The E1 settlement plan announced by Israel’s Civil Administration, if implemented, would divide a Palestinian state in two, marking a flagrant breach of international law and critically undermine the two-state solution. Meanwhile, settlement building across the West Bank including East Jerusalem has accelerated while settler violence against Palestinians has soared. This must stop,” they add. “We urge the parties and the international community to unite in a common effort to bring this terrible conflict to an end, through an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire. Further bloodshed serves no purpose. We reaffirm our complete support to the efforts of the US, Qatar and Egypt to achieve this,” the signatories state. “We are ready to take further steps to support an immediate ceasefire and a political pathway to security and peace for Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region,” the statement concludes.
