EU calls for ‘meaningful pauses’ in Gaza fighting

BRUSSELS: The EU has called for “meaningful” pauses in fighting within Gaza to allow deliveries of fuel to keep hospitals running.

Janez Lenarcic, European Commissioner for Crisis Management, told a meeting in Brussels on Monday that “more than half of hospitals in the Gaza Strip have stopped working… primarily because of lack of fuel”.

“These pauses have to be meaningful,” says Lenarcic.

“First of all, they have to be announced well in advance of the implementation so organisations can prepare to exploit them. Second, they have to be clearly defined time-wise.”

No fuel has been allowed into Gaza since the Hamas attacks on 7 October.

The EU’s 27 countries issued a statement on Sunday demanding “immediate humanitarian pauses” and condemning Hamas for using the medical facilities and civilians as “human shields”.

Last week the US said Israel would start daily four-hour military pauses in parts of northern Gaza as it continues its offensive.

Source – BBC