EU's Josep Borrell urges Israel and Hamas to 'compromise' for Gaza ceasefire

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The EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy urged on Tuesday for “compromise” to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, which he believes could end the war and de-escalate the region's “most perilous” situation in years.

In an interview with The National, Josep Borrell said that the EU is conducting “intense shuttle diplomacy” to reduce tensions, adding that Israeli control of the Salah Al Din Corridor near the border with Egypt will not “defeat terrorism” in the Gaza Strip.

“The Middle East has been on the brink of a wider regional war for months now,” said the EU's foreign affairs chief in written responses, warning that the expanding conflict and the involvement of other actors have created “the most perilous situation in the region in many years”.

“This multiplication of hotspots heightens the risk of degenerating into a full-blown regional war.”

He said that the EU is involved in “intense shuttle diplomacy” to “defuse tensions, strive for solutions, even if temporary”, adding that his current trip to the Middle East, which took him to Egypt and Lebanon last week, was focused on maintaining “an open and frank channel of communication with all involved partners”.

His tour of the Middle East, where tensions have been escalating between Iran, its allies and Israel, coincided with the start of the UN General Assembly's annual meetings.

“The UN General Assembly week is another opportunity for world Leaders to try to cut off the warmongers,” he said. “However, the most urgent single thing that could be done is for Hamas and Israel to finally agree to the proposed ceasefire-hostage release deal” in Gaza, according to the top EU official.

The war in Gaza started after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel last October left about 1,200 dead, according to Israeli tallies. The attackers also abducted dozens of hostages. Israel responded with a fierce military campaign that, according to the enclave's health authorities, killed more than 41,500 Palestinians. The vast majority of the territory's 2.3 million residents have been displaced, some several times, with large built-up areas razed to the ground.

“The situation is dramatic. The suffering of the civilian population of Gaza is beyond description. Seeing 1,400 trucks lined up at the Rafah crossing was sobering and shocking. And we must not forget the suffering of the hostages still held in Gaza and of their families either”, said Mr Borrell.

For him, there are “no other reasonable alternatives to an immediate ceasefire, allowing the release of all hostages and much more humanitarian aid to reach Gaza as soon as possible”.

“For the sake of the civilians, Palestinian and Israeli alike, compromise is the only way forward.”

The Philadelphi issue

A week-long truce in late November allowed 100 hostages held by Hamas to walk free. Hamas and other militant groups are now believed to be holding less than 100 hostages, including about 40 who died while in captivity.

Efforts to reach a new deal have remained elusive, especially as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said he is unwilling to pull troops from the border strip of Salah Al Din, also known as the Philadelphi corridor, claiming that underground tunnels between Egypt and Gaza there provided Hamas with arms. Egypt has rejected the claim, saying its military destroyed all the tunnels about a decade ago.

“This question only came up recently, and we hear different assessments about it,” Mr Borell said, adding that “it is not the Philadelphi Corridor that will defeat terrorism in the Gaza Strip – only a political solution can achieve that. Our priority today has to be to end the war, to bring all the remaining hostages back alive, and to finally bring relief for the immense suffering of civilians in Gaza. There is no valid reason to delay this”.

When asked whether an EU or international force could control the small corridor, he explained that “there is currently no discussion of either an EU or a UN peacekeeping force. What we are proposing is to redeploy our border management monitoring mission at the Rafah border crossing when conditions are right. But this is a civilian mission with the mandate to help the authorities with border management”.

However, Mr Borrell said “in the longer-term, there are discussions about who might be able to guarantee security in Gaza once the war is over, but I understand that discussions are at a very early stage”.

Another obstacle to reaching a deal in Gaza is the opposition from far-right Israeli ministers, who reject both a ceasefire and the two-state solution that has regained attention since the current conflict began.

“I have proposed sanctions against two Israeli ministers and one organisation linked to them for their incitement to violence and hate speech. Under the EU procedures it is now for the Council – meaning for our 27 Member States – to take a decision on this proposal, based on unanimity. Discussions are continuing,” clarified Mr Borrell.

The EU official stressed however that reducing diplomatic relations with Israel would not be in the EU's interest, adding that the bloc “does not envisage reducing our trade relations with Israel. For any change of this policy and any possible action in this context it would require a decision agreed by all our 27 member states in unanimity”.

For Mr Borrell, “there is no military solution to the conflict, except to contemplate massacres and mass exodus of civilians. To conjure this absolute nightmare, the only sustainable way out of the never-ending cycle of violence is the Two-State solution”.

“Clearly, a return to peace talks is a long way off. But hopefully, out of the ruins of the current war, both sides will see that there is no alternative to a negotiated solution that includes the establishment of a Palestinian state,” he said.

“I challenge anyone who rejects the two-state solution to state what they propose as an alternative.”

Responding "swiftly" to Iran

One of the main regional threats of the war spilling over are the attacks by Iran-backed groups, from Yemen, to Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, in support of Hamas. In the Red Sea, the EU posted its defensive operation EUNAVFOR Aspides, which has escorted more than 200 vessels through the strategic waters since February, providing them protection from Yemen's Houthi missiles and drones.

“The EU is seriously concerned about the Houthi attacks against commercial ships in the Red Sea and the threats they have been posing to maritime security,” warned Mr Borrell who also said that he is seeking to de-escalate the situation between Israel and Hezbollah “through diplomatic engagement with Iran, political support for Lebanon's state institutions and financial support to the Lebanese Armed Forces”.

While Iran has been accused by the US and others of arming Yemeni rebels, it has also been charged by the EU of supplying drones and missiles to Russia in the war in Ukraine.

Mr Borrell announced that in order to address the transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia, the European Union “will respond swiftly and in co-ordination with international partners, including with new and significant restrictive measures against Iran, including the designation of individuals and entities involved with Iran's ballistic missile and drone programmes”.

“The necessary process has already started to address what is also a threat to the EU security. The EU was very clear that we consider this a further serious escalation in Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine and Iran’s support for this blatant violation of UN Charter and international law.”

On Tuesday, Dr Anwar Gargash, Diplomatic Adviser to the UAE President, met with Josep Borrell to discuss regional developments, including the war in Gaza, where Abu Dhabi has been one of the main providers of aid.

“The UAE is a key partner for the EU in the region and beyond,” Mr Borell told The National.

“We have a common interest in regional security and stability. We have worked together successfully on several important initiatives (such as the Cyprus led Amalthaea humanitarian corridor for Gaza) and there are many more areas where we can work closely together: addressing maritime security challenges, supporting multilateral rules-based order, coordinating humanitarian assistance, to name just a few,” he explained.

“The fact is that the EU-UAE strategic partnership is growing and there is great untapped potential to further expand it in the fields of trade and investment, transport, green and digital transition. The upcoming EU-GCC Summit in Brussels on 16 October will provide significant boost to our co-operation. The UAE are also an important trading partner for our Member States in the Gulf and broader MENA region and we are committed to further strengthening our trade and investment relations.”

In a press conference in Dubai, he stressed that the UAE has been "playing a very crucial role" in providing humanitarian support to Gaza, adding that its role is "maybe the most effective support that anyone is providing in Gaza, not only in quantity but also in the capacity to treat the people in Gaza".

Regional Gulf security remains a priority for the EU.

“The EU approach is pragmatic, focusing on developing co-operation with the GCC on a wide range of security issues of mutual concern, including maritime security, nuclear safety, cybersecurity and counterterrorism in line with the Gulf Strategy (“A Strategic Partnership with the Gulf”) the EU adopted in 2022. On the basis of this Strategy the EU has now an EU Special Representative for the Gulf, Lugi Di Maio, who actively contributes on his side to our enhanced partnership.”

As the UN meeting started in New York, Mr Borell said that the UN Security Council should reflect “the world of today and not the world as it was in 1948", calling for the reform of the UNSC so it gives “a fair representation to regions which are not represented yet”.