EU foreign policy chief warns of catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza

The EU foreign policy chief on Thursday warned about the ongoing catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Mentioning how a cease-fire proposal which was passed by the UN Security Council has yet to be implemented, Josep Borrell said before an EU Council meeting in Brussels: "And now what we see is starvation continues, bombing continues."

Humanitarian support must be allowed to enter Gaza, he added.

More particularly, as confirmed recently by World Food Program's Executive Director Cindy McCain, starvation and malnutrition prevails in Gaza, something the international community has to deal with, he added.

"Things that are happening in Gaza will be the occasion for the member states to discuss with their Israeli counterparts what's going on," he said, adding that stopping military action, providing more humanitarian support to Gaza, and considering political solution are the most pressing issues.

Borrell also stressed preventing the conflict spilling over to Lebanon and de-escalating tension in the West Bank as other major problems the international community should act swiftly on.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

More than 37,700 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and nearly 86,400 others injured, according to local health authorities.

More than eight months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.