Visiting Israel on Thursday alongside Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told reporters in Jerusalem that "Israel needs to do much more to avoid civilian casualties."
After meeting the Israeli President and Prime Minister in Jerusalem, De Croo has urged Israel to redouble its efforts to protect civilian casualties in Gaza. Since 7 October, around 14,000 Palestinians, including 6,000 children, have been killed in the Israeli response, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza.
The Belgian Prime Minister said that his discussion with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "open" but tense. "We are not here to exchange good news," De Croo said after the meeting. The Israeli Prime Minister chose not to face European journalists.
The Belgian PM urged for the opening of a new border crossing to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Up until now, aid is only allowed through the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border, with many in Gaza saying the aid coming in is not sufficient.
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sanchez during talks. Credit: Belga
On Wednesday, Belgium also announced it had offered, through its B-FAST programme, to provide urgently needed humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, including tents, sleeping bags and medicines. Foreign Affairs Minister Hadja Lahbib also announced that 80 Belgians and their dependents (out of approximately 250 still there) had left Gaza through the Rafah crossing.
'War is far from over'
During the discussions with Israeli officials, De Croo insisted on the need to redouble efforts to limit civilian casualties, stressing that there had already been far too many civilian victims in Gaza. "We don't want another 10,000 deaths. This is an important moment... Let's not make it another missed opportunity," De Croo told the press.
The four-day humanitarian "truce" (announced but still not implemented) is an opportunity to relaunch the peace process, according to De Croo, even if his Israeli counterpart repeats that "the war is far from over".
Netanyahu has previously said that "once we defeat Hamas, we have to make sure that there's no new Hamas, no resurgence of terrorism, and right now the only force that is able to secure that is Israel."
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo talks to the press in Jerusalem. Credit: Belga / Nicolas Maeterlinck
On Thursday, Alexander De Croo and his Spanish counterpart will also visit the Be'eri kibbutz near the Gaza Strip, one of the locations of the Hamas attack on 7 October which killed around 1,400 Israelis.
Afterwards, they will then travel to the West Bank, where they are due to hold talks with the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, in Ramallah. Ahead of the trip, De Croo had expressed his intention to discuss the increased violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
