The European Union is calling for an ‘immediate cessation of fighting’ in the Gaza Strip, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said. The break was necessary to allow the evacuation of patients from hospitals in the Gaza Strip, Borrell said. He also called on Israel to ‘exercise maximum restraint to ensure the protection of civilians’.

The EU is working on a new sea evacuation route from Cyprus. Currently, refugees can only leave the Gaza Strip by land, via the border with Egypt. At the border post, people are allowed to pass slowly, especially foreigners and people who need acute medical care.

Borrell wants more emergency aid available to hospitals in the Gaza Strip, which is facing shortages of food, medicine and fuel for the generators that power them. “Hospitals must immediately receive urgent medical supplies and patients requiring urgent medical care must be evacuated safely,” Borrell said.

The possibility of a ceasefire is the subject of discussion among EU member states. French President Emmanuel Macron called for this on Friday, citing the large number of civilian deaths caused by Israeli bombing. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz disagrees. “I think calls for an immediate ceasefire or a long pause are incorrect,” Scholz said today. “That means Israel is giving Hamas the opportunity to recover and acquire new missiles.”

Daan de Vries

Read more about the situation in hospitals in the Gaza Strip here: ‘Heavy fighting around Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza’, contact with medical staff lost.