Today, during a plenary debate in Brussels, S&D Group leader Iratxe García stressed the moral obligation of the European Union to show leadership and promote a peace conference that could avoid further innocent deaths and ensure a fair, peaceful and durable solution, both for the Israeli and the Palestinian people. The Netanyahu government’s collective punishment of Gaza’s people must stop and allow for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, with the EU leading efforts for an international peace conference, says Iratxe García.

During the European Parliament’s plenary debate in Brussels, Iratxe García said:

“What we are witnessing in Gaza is a catastrophic inhumane crisis. Our support for Israel, following the savage Hamas terrorist attacks that killed 1,400 innocent Israeli people, does not mean we turn a blind eye to the unjustifiable collective punishment imposed by the Netanyahu government on the more than two million Palestinians living in Gaza.

“Bombing hospitals, attacking refugee camps, destroying schools and forcing the population to drink from salt water wells is not legitimate defence; they are war crimes. Netanyahu’s government must stop acting as if Hamas were the entire Palestinian population. We have said it since the terrible night of 7th October and we reiterate it now: Israel has the right to defend itself but Mr Netanyahu has no right to dehumanise Gaza’s innocent people, children, women and elderly. The Israeli government should also refrain from undermining and attacking the role of the UN and its Secretary General, António Guterres.

“The European Union’s credibility is at stake here. We have a moral obligation to act now to end innocent deaths in Gaza, free the Israeli hostages, allow a humanitarian ceasefire for safe and unimpeded access to humanitarian aid from Egypt, and lead an international peace conference that provides a just and lasting solution for both Israeli and Palestinian people based on the two-state solution.

“The opportunity for peace is now. Peace and coexistence are built on dialogue and negotiation, never on violence and revenge.”