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In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell refused to describe Israel's bombing and killing of civilians as "war crimes" in the Gaza Strip, stressing that the EU is working to stop the war in Gaza.
Asked about the atrocities Israel is committing against the people of Gaza, he said: "I am not a lawyer and there is the International Criminal Court that will take over the investigation and several countries have asked this court to open a case."
Borrell did not hesitate to describe the operation carried out by the Palestinian resistance on October 7 as a "war crime," and said that "what happened was a clear killing of civilians without any reason."
He also avoided answering a question about whether the Palestinians had the right to self-defense, saying only: "What happened in the attack of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) was horror and what is happening in Gaza is terrifying. Both are terrifying."
While he said he did not practice double standards in his dealings with Israel and the Palestinians, Borrell argued that Israel had "the right to defend itself," but that it should observe international law.
He said that isolating the population in the Gaza Strip and cutting off water and electricity to them is not in line with international law, stressing that civilians should be protected, as well as hospitals and schools.
On the other hand, the European official revealed – in statements to Al Jazeera – that the Union provides humanitarian support to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and works to stop the ongoing war.
He added that the Europeans have an air bridge to transport aid to the people of Gaza, and are trying to impose political pressure to make the war run in accordance with international law, and said: "We are trying to stop the war because it causes a lot of civilian casualties."
On the fate of the sea corridor that some Europeans talked about to transport aid to Gaza, he described the idea as good because it would be easier than land corridors, but so far it has not been done.
Commenting on what was reported by Israeli Haaretz that preliminary investigations by the Israeli police indicate that an Israeli military helicopter opened fire on Israelis at the concert that was being held in the Gaza envelope in conjunction with the Al-Aqsa flood operation on October 7, the European official pointed out that many question marks are raised in wars and many are killed, and said that he read what was said in the Israeli newspaper, but he does not have information in this regard.
Source : Al Jazeera