Gaza destruction worse than in WWII Germany, says Josep Borrell

The situation in Gaza is ‘catastrophic, apocalyptic’, with destruction proportionally ‘even greater’ than that which Germany experienced in World War II, the EU’s top diplomat says.

Josep Borrell says the EU is ‘alarmed by the violence in the West Bank by extremist settlers’. Picture: AFP

The situation in Gaza is “catastrophic, apocalyptic”, with destruction proportionally “even greater” than that which Germany experienced in World War II, the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, says.

Israel’s military response to Hamas’s October 7 attacks had resulted in “an incredible number of civilian casualties”, Mr Borrell said on Monday after chairing a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

He said the EU was also “alarmed by the violence in the West Bank by extremist settlers” and condemned the Israeli government’s decision to approve 1700 more housing units in Jerusalem, in what Brussels considers a violation of international law.

While noting that Hamas’s bloody attacks of October 7 had cemented its place on the EU’s list of terrorist organisations, Mr Borrell made clear he saw Israel’s military operation as disproportionate in terms of civilian deaths and damage to civilian property and infrastructure.

“The human suffering constitutes an unprecedented challenge to the international community,” he said. “Civilian casualties are between 60 and 70 per cent of the overall deaths,” based on Gaza health ministry figures, and “85 per cent of the population is ­internally displaced”.

“The destruction of buildings in Gaza … is more or less or even greater than the destruction suffered by the German cities during the Second World War,” taken proportionally.

Mr Borrell said he had presented a discussion paper to the EU foreign ministers looking at “imposing sanctions against ­extremist settlers in West Bank” who have stepped up attacks against Palestinian residents.

He said he would soon make that a formal proposal, based on an initiative taken by the US, which last week said it would refuse visas to extremist Israeli settlers.

AFP