Ireland has reportedly urged other bloc nations to put pressure on the government in West Jerusalem to end the war in Gaza<\/p>\n
Irish Deputy Prime Minister and top diplomat Simon Harris is reaching out to EU foreign ministers to push for sanctions on Israel over the Gaza conflict, Irish public broadcaster RTE has reported.
\nHarris is reportedly asking his \u201cEU counterparts, which are considering unilateral moves on trade measures\u201d to co-sign a letter to the bloc\u2019s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, urging a swift decision on sanctions, RTE wrote on Monday, citing a copy of the correspondence.
\n\u201cAs Member States, we stand ready to work with you immediately to overcome the current obstacles and ensure that sufficient pressure is applied to the Israeli government to change its course and meet its obligations according to international law,\u201d the letter reportedly said.
\nLast week, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen called the situation in Gaza \u201cunacceptable,\u201d and called on member states to \u201cstep up\u201d and impose sanctions on Israel\u2019s \u201cextremist ministers and on violent settlers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Killing Hamas chiefs in Qatar would remove \u2018main obstacle\u2019 to peace \u2013 Netanyahu<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst, the Commission will do all that it can on its own. We will put our bilateral support to Israel on hold,\u201d she said in a speech in Strasbourg. She also proposed the EU partially freeze its free trade agreement with Israel.
\nMultiple EU members including Ireland, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands have called for the deal to be suspended. Others, led by Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic, have opposed sanctioning Israel.
\nInternational pressure on Israel has been mounting over its military operation in Gaza.
\nThe conflict has raged on since October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants launched a series of raids on Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 captive back to the enclave. The death toll among Palestinians has climbed to 64,905 as of Monday, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: UN recognizes State of Palestine without Hamas \u2013 Ukraine votes \u2018yes\u2019, US and Israel vote \u2018no\u2019<\/p>\n
Moscow has long maintained that a two-state solution is the only way to end the conflict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ireland has reportedly urged other bloc nations to put pressure on the government in West Jerusalem to end the war in Gaza Irish Deputy Prime Minister and top diplomat Simon…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-politics","category-society"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t