EU to discuss action against Israel over Gaza war conduct
The bloc's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has put forward ten potential steps after Israel was found to have breached the human rights obligations of the EU-Israel Association Agreement due to its conduct in Gaza.
The measures range from suspending the entire accord or curbing trade ties to sanctioning Israeli ministers, imposing an arms embargo and halting visa-free travel.
However, despite growing anger Israel's destruction of Gaza, EU states remain divided over how to tackle Israel and diplomats claim there appears to be no critical mass for any move.
"I was asked to give the inventory of the options that could be taken and it's up to the member states to discuss what do we do with these options," Ms Kallas said yesterday.
The tone of discussions will be shaped strongly by how Israel is implementing a promise to the EU to improve humanitarian access to Gaza.
Ms Kallas said on Thursday that she had struck a deal with her Israeli counterpart, Gideon Saar, to open more entry points and allow in more food.
Gaza's two million residents are facing dire humanitarian conditions as Israel has severely limited aid during its devastating war with Palestinian militant group Hamas.
"We see some good signs of more trucks getting in," Ms Kallas said yesterday.
"But of course we know that this is not enough, and we need to push more (so) that the implementation of what we have agreed also happens on the ground."
At a meeting of EU and neighbouring countries in Brussels yesterday, Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safadi said the situation in Gaza remained "catastrophic".
'No justification'
Mr Saar, speaking at the same meeting, sounded confident his country would avoid further EU action.
"I'm sure not any of them will be adopted by the EU member states," he said.
"There's no justification whatsoever," he claimed.
While the EU appears unable for now to take any further moves against Israel, just getting to this stage has been a considerable step.
The bloc only agreed to review the cooperation deal after Israel relaunched its devastating war in Gaza after it collapsed the ceasefire in March.
Until then deep divisions between countries backing Israel and those more favourable to the Palestinians had hamstrung any move.
Israel's war was sparked by Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, which led to 1,219 deaths, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Of the 251 people taken hostage by militants that day, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military claims are dead.
Gaza's health ministry said that at least 58,386 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed by Israel. The UN considers the figures reliable.
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RTÉ News
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- RTÉ News
Kneecap announce new UK tour dates for group's 'biggest run of shows ever'
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A doctor ordered him not to travel for eight to 12 weeks due to the risk of blood clots, which, he said, meant he had to stay slightly past 8 December, when his authorisation expired. A flower rests in front of California National Guardsmen during a protest outside the Federal Building on Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Wally Skalij) He got paperwork from his physician and contacted the Irish and American embassies and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to seek an extension, but it was short notice and he did not hear back, he said. 'I did everything I could with the online tools available to notify the authorities that this was happening,' he said, explaining that by the time his deadline to leave the US had approached, he was nearly healed and planning to soon return. 'I thought they would understand because I had the correct paperwork. It was just a couple of days for medical reasons.' 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He and other detainees were placed in an area with dirty mattresses, cockroaches and mice, where some bunkbeds lacked ladders, forcing people to climb to the top bed, he said. BoP didn't seem to have enough clothes, said Thomas, who got a jumpsuit but no shirt. The facility also gave him a pair of used, ripped underwear with brown stains. Some jumpsuits appeared to have bloodstains and holes, he added. Each detainee was given one toilet paper roll a week. He shared a cell with another detainee, and he said they were only able to flush the toilet three times an hour. He was often freezing and was given only a thin blanket. The food was 'disgusting slop', including some kind of mysterious meat that at times appeared to have chunks of bones and other inedible items mixed in, he said. He was frequently hungry. 'The staff didn't know why we were there, and they were treating us exactly as they would treat BoP prisoners, and they told us that,' Thomas said. 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Of the nearly 50 people taken from Ice to BoP, around 30 of them were transferred back to Folkston a week later, and the following week, two from that group were once again returned to BoP, he said. In the BoP Atlanta facility, he said, Ice representatives would show up once a week to talk to detainees. Detainees would crowd around Ice officials and beg for case updates or help. Ice officers spoke Spanish and English, but Middle Eastern and North African detainees who spoke neither were stuck in a state of confusion. 'It was pandemonium,' Thomas said. Thomas said he saw a BoP guard tear up 'watching the desperation of the people trying to talk to Ice and find out what was happening', and that this officer tried to assist people as best as she could. Thomas and Malone tried to help asylum seekers and others he met at BoP by connecting them to advocates. Thomas was also unable to speak to his children, because there was no way to make international calls: 'I don't know how I made it through.' In mid-March, Thomas was briefly transferred again to a different Ice facility. The authorities did not explain what had changed, but two armed federal officers then escorted him on a flight back to Ireland. DHS and Ice did not respond to inquiries, and a spokesperson for Geo Group declined to comment. It seems like a completely incomprehensible, punitive detention — Sirine Shebaya Donald Murphy, a BoP spokesperson, confirmed that Thomas had been in the bureau's custody, but did not comment about his case or conditions at the Atlanta facility. BoP is now housing Ice detainees in eight of its prisons and would 'continue to support our law enforcement partners to fulfil the administration's policy objectives', he added. 'This will be a lifelong burden' It's unclear why Thomas was jailed for so long for a minor immigration violation. 'It seems completely outlandish that they would detain someone for three months because he overstayed a visa for a medical reason,' said Sirine Shebaya, executive director of the National Immigration Project, who is not involved in his case and was told a summary by the Guardian. 'It is such a waste of time and money at a time when we're hearing constantly about how the government wants to cut expenses. It seems like a completely incomprehensible, punitive detention.' Ice, she added, was 'creating its own crisis of overcrowding'. Jennifer Ibañez Whitlock, senior policy counsel with the National Immigration Law Center, also not involved in the case, said in general, it was not uncommon for someone to remain in immigration custody even after they've accepted a removal order and that she has had European clients shocked to learn they can face serious consequences for briefly overstaying a visa. Ice, however, had discretion to release Thomas with an agreement that he'd return home instead of keeping him indefinitely detained, she said. The Trump administration, she added, has defaulted to keeping people detained without weighing individual factors of their cases: 'Now it's just, do we have a bed?' Republican lawmakers in Georgia last year also passed state legislation requiring police to alert immigration authorities when an undocumented person is arrested, which could have played a role in Thomas being flagged to Ice, said Samantha Hamilton, staff attorney with Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta, a non-profit group that advocates for immigrants' rights. She met Thomas on a legal visit at the BoP Atlanta facility. Residents gather during a community vigil on Monday, June 30, 2025, to stand in solidarity with an immigrant family after ICE agents detained Rosalina Luna Vargas on Saturday, June 28, in front of her children, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) Hamilton said she was particularly concerned about immigrants of colour who are racially profiled and pulled over by police, but Thomas's ordeal was a reminder that so many people are vulnerable: 'The mass detentions are terrifying and it makes me afraid for everyone.' Thomas had previously travelled to the US frequently for work, but now questions if he'll ever be allowed to return: 'This will be a lifelong burden.' Malone, his girlfriend, said she plans to move to Ireland to live with him: 'It's not an option for him to come here and I don't want to be in America anymore.' Since his return, Thomas said he has had a hard time sleeping and processing what happened: 'I'll never forget it, and it'll be a long time before I'll be able to even start to unpack everything I went through. It still doesn't feel real. When I think about it, it's like a movie I'm watching.' He said he has also struggled with long-term health problems that he attributes to malnutrition and inappropriate medications he was given while detained. He was shaken by reports of people sent away without due process: 'I wouldn't have been surprised if I ended up at Guantánamo Bay or El Salvador, because it was so disorganised. I was just at the mercy of the federal government.' - The Guardian
