EU leaders agree the situation in Gaza is ‘dire’ – but that’s where agreement ends

European Union leaders have been discussing the situation in Gaza and have recognised the “dire humanitarian situation” in the enclave.

The EU’s 27 leaders signed off on a joint statement criticising the “unacceptable” number of civilians killed and the levels of starvation in the Palestinian enclave.

There the agreement is likely to end, though. The bloc remains deeply divided on what if anything it should do about Gaza, with a group of countries including Germany, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary blocking any action against Israel.

Ireland and a group of other countries – whose numbers have grown significantly in recent months – want the EU’s trade agreement with Israel suspended, but that is strongly opposed by the pro-Israel faction.

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In discussions over the past week on the summit’s conclusions – these are generally agreed between diplomats and then tweaked and/or approved by the leaders – some countries did not even want to acknowledge the EU’s own review of the agreement which concluded that Israel was breaching its human rights standards in its treatment of the Palestinians in Gaza.

The EU agrees there should be a ceasefire and that sufficient humanitarian aid should be immediately allowed into Gaza to alleviate the obvious suffering there.

But it does not agree what to do to persuade Israel to make that happen. And that is not going to change at this summit.

[ EU summit: Divisions remain over ‘catastrophic’ Gaza war ]

Micheál Martin was visibly frustrated at this when he spoke to reporters on his way into the summit venue on Thursday morning.

The Taoiseach said the attitude of other EU countries was “difficult to comprehend” in the face of the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza.

“I’ll be saying to my European colleagues that the people of Europe find it incomprehensible that Europe does not seem to be in a position to [put] pressure on Israel and leverage on Israel to stop this war in Gaza,” he said.

Referencing the “continuing slaughter of children and innocent civilians”, Mr Martin wants the EU to take action against Israel to persuade it to stop attacks in the enclave and allow United Nations agencies to distribute food and give humanitarian assistance.

Ireland, he said, “would be seeking some mechanisms to ensure that this war stops and that humanitarian aid gets into Gaza”.

One of those “mechanisms” is to suspend the agreement that provides for free trade between the EU and Israel – something that would hit Israel economically and would worry the Israeli government by signalling to the rest of the world that the EU should treat the country as an international pariah in the way that apartheid South Africa was once regarded.

But Israel’s supporters in the EU will block that.

There is an internal argument about whether such a move would require unanimity as a foreign policy issue or qualified majority voting as a trade matter, but the EU’s realpolitik means that either way it is not going to happen any time soon.

Mr Martin is also likely to raise the possibility of sanctioning individual Israeli ministers, including some of the hardliners in Binyamin Netanyahu’s government who have made the most bellicose statements about the Palestinians. But he knows that’s unlikely to go anywhere either.

The reality is the EU is and will remain divided in its attitude to Israel. Despite Mr Martin’s admonishments – on Wednesday night he said the EU’s attitude was a “huge stain” on the bloc – there is little prospect of that changing. Taking action against Israel will remain a matter for individual member states.