EU top diplomat urges better Gaza aid deliveries as countries scrutinize Israel deal

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Tuesday that Israel needs to take more steps to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, as some European countries press for ways to verify the terms of an EU-Israel deal on aid deliveries.

“We see some positive signs when it comes to border crossings, we see some positive signs of them reconstructing electricity lines … providing water, also more trucks of humanitarian aid coming in,” Kallas told reporters on her way into a gathering of foreign ministers in Brussels. “But of course we need to see more in order to see real improvement for people on the ground.”

Kallas was referring to a deal that Brussels struck last week under which Israel promises to deliver more food, fuel and other essentials to Gaza, where it has been waging war for almost two years, in addition to opening more entry points.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told reporters Monday the deal was holding and batted away questions about reported killings of Palestinians at Gaza aid stations, blaming the Hamas militant group for, he said, diverting aid.

Sa’ar also predicted that EU foreign ministers would stop short of any measures to penalize Israel at their meeting Tuesday.

Indeed, Kallas is due to present a list of options to downgrade EU-Israel relations, ranging from a suspension of trade relations to fewer student exchanges. Those options follow an EU review of its trading agreement with Israel which found the state was not living up to its humanitarian obligations in Gaza.

Even so, several EU diplomats told POLITICO that countries were unlikely to make a serious push to trigger any of those options.

However, ministers vowed to press for details on last week’s EU-Israel deal as well as ways to verify that it’s being fully implemented.

“I want to know better what this agreement is about but also the mechanism of follow-up that the European Union will have to check the implementation,” said Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares.

Albares also hinted that he could press for triggering one of the options laid out by Kallas if Israel is shown to be falling short of its promises.

“Certainly, the voice of Spain will be at the table to ask for concrete measures,” he said.

Kallas’ original announcement of the humanitarian deal last week mentioned a “substantial increase” in aid trucks, the opening of “several other crossing points” in Gaza as well as the need for food to be distributed via bakeries and public kitchens. But her statement lacked any numerical benchmarks or details on implementation.

Speaking to POLITICO on Monday, an EU official who was granted anonymity to discuss nonpublic aspects of the deal said that it calls for some 160 aid trucks to enter Gaza daily and for eight new entry points to be opened.

The official also said the EU’s special envoy for the Middle East, Christophe Bigot, would be tasked with monitoring the deal, and that the EU would seek input from agencies operating inside Gaza, the United Nations and the Israeli government.