EU welcomes first phase of Israel-Hamas deal and reiterates call for two-state solution

Europe has welcomed the announcement overnight on Thursday that Israel and Hamas have signed off on the first phase of a peace plan championed by US President Donald Trump.

However, many leaders stressed that this must be the premise for a two-state solution, which Israel's leadership believes is a red line.

"This agreement must mark the end of the war and the beginning of a political solution based on the two-state solution," French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X on Thursday morning.

"France stands ready to contribute to this goal. We will discuss it this afternoon in Paris with our international partners," he said.

Foreign ministers from Germany, Egypt, the UAEs, Spain, Italy, Jordan, Qatar, the UK and Turkey, as well as the EU's high representative and Macron will take part in the meeting aimed at "operationalising the main parameters for the ‘day after’ (security, governance, reconstruction) by specifying the terms of a collective commitment", according to Paris.

The deal, announced overnight by Trump, should see all remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza released, while Israel will free almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, allow passage of much-needed humanitarian aid into the besieged strip and pull its troops back from the frontline.

The EU's leadership, like Macron, also said the deal is an "opportunity" that must be "seized" to lay the foundation for a lasting peace "grounded" or "anchored" in "a two-state solution".

"The EU will continue to support the swift and safe delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza. And when the time comes, we will be ready to help with recovery and reconstruction," European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen added in a statement.

The bloc's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas similarly said that "the EU will do what it can to support" the deal's "implementation".

Their call was echoed by the president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, who in a statement expressed hope the deal "will serve as a prelude to achieving a sustainable political solution that will end the Israeli occupation and lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state along the 4 June 1967 borders".

But Israel is unlikely to give much weight to their call. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged a month ago while visiting an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank that his government would "fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state".

He told Euronews in an interview on Sunday that the creation of a Palestinian state would be "the ultimate reward for Hamas after doing the greatest massacre against the Jews since the Holocaust".

He also lambasted EU member states that have recently taken steps to recognise a Palestinian state and criticised the bloc for having been "absent" from peace-making efforts and being "irrelevant".

The European Commission recently announced plans to suspend its "bilateral support" with Israel and partially suspend the trade parts of its association agreement with Tel Aviv.

This step requires a qualified majority among the 27 member states, and several countries, including Germany, Italy, Hungary and the Czech Republic, have continuously blocked efforts to sanction Israel.

'An important role to play'

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni made no mention of the two-state solution in her initial statement welcoming the deal, and neither did German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul. However, both assured that their respective countries "stand ready" to provide support for further steps towards peace or to stabilise and rebuild Gaza.

Pedro Sanchez, the Spanish premier who has vocally been calling for harsher EU-wide sanctions against Israel, said now is the time to look towards the future "with hope" but also "with justice and remembrance".

Commission spokesperson Anouar El Anouni told reporters on Thursday that the "EU is well positioned to contribute to President Trump's peace plan" and has "an important role to play".

"In the EU, we have unique expertise in a certain number of areas. They are fundamental. They will be fundamental in the post-conflict area in Gaza."

"We are exploring a range of options, in particular, contributions related to humanitarian funding, also (Common Security and Defence Policy) CSDP missions, reconstruction of Gaza," El Anouni added.

Trump's announcement came just two days after the second anniversary of the brutal attack led by Hamas, an EU- and US-designated terror group, in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed and over 250 taken hostage. Of the 48 hostages remaining, 20 are still alive.

More than 65,000 Palestinians have lost their lives because of the ongoing military operations launched by Israel in the days that followed, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in their death toll.

Significant challenges remain to implement the Gaza peace plan, whose second part is meant to demilitarise Gaza and disarm Hamas and see the deployment of an international stabilisation force.