Palestinian women bid farewell to their loved ones at the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, also known as the Baptist Hospital, after an Israeli airstrike hit a UNRWA school that was serving as a shelter for people who have left their homes in the besieged Palestinian territory, on May 20, 2025. (Credit: Omar al-Qattaa / AFP.)
European countries increased their pressure on Israel on Tuesday to cease its offensive in Gaza and allow more humanitarian aid into the starved Palestinian territory, where Israeli strikes have killed dozens.
After blocking all humanitarian aid since March 2, Israel announced the entry of 93 U.N. trucks on Tuesday into the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, triggered by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israeli soil on Oct. 7, 2023.
In light of the catastrophic humanitarian situation and the intensification of Israeli military operations in the besieged Palestinian territory, many European countries have raised their voices.
The European Union will launch a review of its association agreement with Israel, in force since 2000, announced its chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas. This revision has been supported by 17 member states, according to Paris. Without improvement in the situation of civilians in Gaza, "we must raise the tone," asserted Sweden. The United Kingdom, meanwhile, said it suspended negotiations with Israel on a free trade agreement.
Reacting to London's announcement, Israeli Foreign Ministry warned that "external pressures will not deter Israel from its path to defend its existence and security." The announcement by Kallas "reflects a total misunderstanding of the complex reality Israel is facing" and "encourages Hamas to remain steadfast," responded the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson in the evening.
"Drop in the ocean"
On Monday, London, Paris, and Ottawa warned they would not "stand idly by" in the face of Israel's "outrageous actions" in Gaza. The escalation of the offensive is "morally unjustifiable, totally disproportionate and counterproductive," criticized British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
Upon the entry of the first nine trucks on Monday since March 2, the U.N. criticized it as a "drop in the ocean," and 22 countries demanded that Israel "fully resume aid, immediately." In Gaza, "two million" people are "starving" while "tons of food are blocked at the border," lamented the World Health Organization.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose country is an ally of Israel, said he was "happy to see aid restarting" in Gaza, even if the quantities are not sufficient.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attributed his green light for a limited resumption of aid deliveries to "diplomatic reasons" to avoid "images of mass hunger" that could undermine the support of "friendly countries."
On Monday, his government announced its intention to take control of the entire Gaza Strip, after intensifying the air and ground military campaign with the stated goal of annihilating Hamas and recovering the Israeli hostages. These hostages were kidnapped during the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas commandos infiltrated from the neighboring Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday, Gaza's Civil Defense reported at least 44 deaths, most of them children and women, in Israeli strikes on Gaza. At a gas station in Nusseirat (central), where a bombing killed 15 people according to emergency services, Mahmoud al-Louh is carrying human remains in a bag to a vehicle. "These are civilians, children who were sleeping. What was their fault?"
"We can't take it anymore"
"It's been a year and a half of bombings and immense suffering. We can't take it anymore," lamented Douaa al-Zaanin in Gaza City (north), who lost relatives in a strike on a school sheltering displaced people.
The Israeli army said it had "hit a Hamas terrorist" operating in this school and more than "100 terrorist targets" in Gaza in the past 24 hours. "We will take control of the entire territory," stated Netanyahu on Monday. The day before, he said he was open to an agreement including the end of the offensive, but under the condition of the "exile" of Hamas and the "disarmament" of the territory.
Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007, rejects such demands. Indicating the impasse, Israel announced the recall of its chief negotiators sent to Doha, leaving a team there after the Qatari mediator lamented the lack of progress. Israel accepted an "American proposal for the return of hostages," but "Hamas remains obstinate in its refusal," said Netanyahu’s office without detailing this proposal.
The October 7 attack resulted in the death of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count from official data. Of the 251 people then kidnapped, 57 remain held in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the army. The Israeli reprisal campaign has resulted in at least 53,573 deaths in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to data from the Gaza Health Ministry, considered reliable by the U.N.
