EU urges end to Gaza bloodshed
The European Union has urging an end to the “bloodshed” in Gaza and calling for negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders toward a political solution as the only way to “bring lasting peace”.
The leaders of the 28-nation bloc’s executive branch, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and Council president Herman Van Rompuy, said today that the EU stands ready to support negotiations and reconstruction.
They said “the bloodshed needs to stop” because previous cycles of violence between Hamas and Israel have shown “limits regarding what military operations can achieve” – leaving only a negotiated two-state solution as a real way forward.
Palestinian health officials say more than 1,750 Palestinians, mainly civilians, have been killed in nearly four weeks of fighting. Some 70 Israelis, almost all soldiers, have been killed.
