Sixty Members of the European Parliament have called on the EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, to convene an urgent meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers, aiming to reach a consensus on imposing sanctions on the Israeli government. This was stated in a letter sent by the MPs, who belong to different political groups, to Kallas on Monday evening.
In the same context, the MPs stated that Israel imposed a blockade on the occupied West Bank following the killing of two Israeli soldiers in the city of Hebron on October 23. They considered the Israeli measures in the West Bank to amount to "collective punishment."
For their part, the MPs pointed to the demolition of Palestinian homes in Hebron, with some families given a deadline of no more than 5 minutes to evacuate their homes. They described what is happening as a "decisive turning point for the future of the West Bank and the ability of the Palestinian state to continue."
They added that the Israeli government aims, through the use of collective punishment, which constitutes a war crime under international law, to consolidate its illegal occupation of Palestinian territories and escalate tensions further ahead of elections in Israel. They stressed that the European Union "cannot remain silent" regarding what they described as the wide Israeli attack on the West Bank.
The Israeli army had begun a military operation in the city of Hebron on Friday following an attack carried out by two Palestinians, which resulted in the death of two soldiers and injured three others. The army imposed a closure on the city and surrounding villages, and arrested 85 Palestinians between Friday and Monday, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club.
This comes amid escalating attacks by the Israeli army and settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, since the start of the genocide being committed by Tel Aviv in Gaza since October 2023.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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