Exclusive: Cross-party EU lawmakers call for sanctions on Israel over Gaza ‘atrocities’

A group of some 58 cross-party MEPs are pressing on the European Union to suspend its trade deal with Israel and impose sanctions on the Netanyahu-led government, as an UN-backed body warns of signs of famine and widespread starvation in the Gaza Strip.

In a joint statement seen exclusively by Euronews, the lawmakers call on the EU to hold the Israeli government accountable for actions that “blatantly breach the Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law.”

The statement also urges Hamas to immediately release Israeli hostages still held captive in Gaza after they were kidnapped from Israel during October 7 2023 attacks.

“Future generations will judge today’s leaders on their response, or lack thereof, to the atrocities in Gaza. Failing to act now will be remembered as a moral stain on humanity,” the statement reads. “The time for moral cowardice is over, and action must be swift.”

The coalition of MEPs explicitly call for sanctions on the Israeli government, a move the EU has so far avoided despite allies including the United Kingdom and Norway moving to sanction two Israeli ministers considered extremist, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

On Tuesday, the Netherlands imposed travel bans on both ministers in response to the deepening crisis in Gaza.

The signatories also press on the Commission to suspend the EU’s Association Agreement with Israel, which defines the trading and political relations between both sides, and which has often been touted as the best tool at the EU's disposal to pressure Israel into improving a spiralling humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

A previous review by the EU's diplomatic arm found indications Israel had breached the human rights obligations enshrined in its Association Agreement with the bloc, but the process failed to trigger any concrete reprisals beyond a discussion between the EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas and her Israeli counterpart, foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar.

Those talks resulted in an 'agreement' by Israel to scale up the humanitarian assistance reaching Gaza. But concerns about the humanitarian situation on-the-ground have mounted since.

On Monday, the European Commission tabled the partial suspension of Israel's access to the EU's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme in response to its actions in Gaza.

But the signatories of the statement call for a much more stringent response, warning "mere words of condemnation are inadequate."

They represent 15 of the EU’s 27 countries, including Germany, France, Italy and Spain, as well as six different political groups, from The Left to the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP). 

Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has exposed deep political and national fault-lines in the European Union. But the deepening humanitarian crisis is prompting lawmakers from ideologically opposed groups to join forces in calling for more decisive EU action.

“MEPs from across the spectrum of pro-European, pro-democratic parties have united behind this statement,” MEP Evin Incir, who sits on the centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group, told Euronews, adding that more signatories were expected to support the statement in the coming hours.

“Our concerns are directed at both the European Commission and EU member states, who all need to be more decisive in their response to the unfolding humanitarian crisis,” she added.

The statement comes as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global watchdog monitoring hunger with the backing of governments and the UN, said there is “mounting evidence” that “widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths” in the besieged territory.

Israeli government officials have either denied that there is famine in Gaza or deflected the blame. There have been multiple reports of armed gangs looting aid deliveries and selling the contents on the black market, which could be exacerbating the crisis.