The European Union is considering sanctions against Israel as member states Spain, Ireland and Norway officially recognize “Palestinian state.”
The threat of sanctions is aimed at forcing Israel to stop the ongoing military operation against Hamas terrorists in the Rafah terrorist stronghold, European media reports suggest. The EU “foreign affairs ministers raised the prospect of placing sanctions on Israel in a “real way” for the first time over its continued military campaign in the besieged city of Rafah in Gaza,” the Irish Times reported Monday evening citing the country’s foreign minister.
The move comes as Spain and Norway and Ireland formally recognized the “Palestinian State” in a coordinated bid to pressure other European states to follow suit. “Spain and Norway, along with Ireland, became the most recent countries to recognize Palestinian statehood on Tuesday,” Germany’s state-run DW TV reported. “The three European countries had planned a simultaneous recognition in the hopes that its symbolism would spur other countries to also commit to recognition.”
The French TV channel Euronews reported EU’s bid to sanction Israel:
European Union foreign ministers unanimously agreed on Monday to call for an Association Council with Israel to discuss the country’s compliance with its human rights obligations under the EU-Israel trade deal, also known as the Association Agreement.The bloc also intends to use the meeting to confront Netanyahu’s government about its compliance with Friday’s ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ordered Israel to halt its intended military offensive in the city of Rafah.The move comes three months after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and the then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar first made a plea for the urgent review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, citing serious concerns over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and potential violations of human rights and international law. (…)”We got the necessary unanimity to call for an Association Council with Israel to discuss the situation in Gaza (…) and the respect of human rights under the obligations that Israel has assumed under the Association Council and how they plan to implement the ruling of the court,” Borrell told reporters, referring to Friday’s ruling by the Hague-based court.”But what we have seen since the court has issued its ruling (is) not the stop of military activities but on the contrary an increase in the military activities, an increase in the bombing and an increase in the casualties to the civilian people, as we have seen last night,” Borrell added.
Almost three week after Israel launched the military operation on Rafah stronghold, the IDF tanks were rolling into the terrorist-held city center, news reports suggest. “In central Rafah, tanks and armoured vehicles mounted with machineguns were spotted near Al-Awda mosque,” Reuters reported Tuesday citing local eyewitnesses. “The Israeli military said its forces continued to operate in the Rafah area, without commenting on reported advances into the city centre.”
Meanwhile, Israel dispatched more troops to the Rafah theater as military operation expands. “The IDF has deployed an additional brigade to southern Gaza’s Rafah, as the offensive against Hamas there continues,” The Times of Israel reported Tuesday. “The Bislamach Brigade — the School for Infantry Corps Professions and Squad Commanders during war time — joins the 162nd Division’s other brigades that have been operating in Rafah since earlier this month.”
The miliary is locating and destroying Hamas’s terrorist fighting capabilities in Rafah. “IDF troops continued to operate in the Rafah area,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) revealed in a press release Tuesday morning. “Overnight, IDF troops operated on the Philadelphi Corridor while conducting precise operational activity based on intelligence indicating the presence of terror targets in the area.
“The activity is being conducted as efforts are continuing to be made in order to prevent harm to uninvolved civilians in the area,” the IDF added. “The troops are engaging with terrorists in close-quarters combat and locating terror tunnel shafts, weapons, and additional terrorist infrastructure in the area.”
The initial Israeli investigation has found that an IDF airstrike on Hamas terrorist compound in Rafah was at least a kilometer away from the site of explosion that killed dozens of Gazan civilians. The deadly blast was likely caused by Hamas’s munitions stored in the humanitarian zone, preliminary finding show.
IDF “targeted a closed structure away from the tent area. There are no tents in the immediate vicinity.” IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a press statement Tuesday.
On Monday, an overnight Israeli airstrike eliminated two senior Hamas terror commanders. Following the strike a blast was reported in Tal al-Sultan area near Rafah.
The incident triggered a wave of international condemnation, with several Western governments blaming Israel for the death of 45 Gaza civilians. Axios reported Monday that the White House was assessing if the incident “is a violation of President Biden’s “red line”.”
Since the Rafah operation began early May, the IDF has uncovered several weapons cache scattered across the area — hidden in schools, homes and terror tunnels beneath residential buildings.
YNET reported the IDF’s finding:
The initial investigation of Monday’s precision airstrike in northern Rafah has not definitively identified the cause of the fatal fire, in which dozens of displaced Gazans were killed. The Southern Command submitted to IDF Chief of Staff Major General Herzi Halevi on Monday night the findings of the initial investigation of the incident at the beginning of the week in which two senior officers from the West Bank Hamas headquarters, who were in the town of Tel al-Sultan near Rafah, were killed in an Israeli Air Force attack.Halevi requested additional information and data, and the investigation is expected to continue, but from the initial findings that the IDF is now also presenting to the foreign media, it appears that the point of the attack was defined as an area from which Hamas carried out terrorist operations; Some 47 meters from the point of attack there was a Hamas rocket launcher, and a kilometer separated the safe zone that the IDF had set up for the displaced and the point of attack.It also appears that the two men who were eliminated were inside a closed complex and not in the nearby internally displaced persons camp being used by civilians.In the attack, the Air Force used weapons that have been used hundreds of times in recent months – two small missiles launched from fighter jets, each carrying 17 kilograms of explosives in its warhead. The warhead was small to prevent civilian casualties.The army says that these munitions were not mean to set fire to the refugee tent complex. “We have a suspicion, following intelligence surveillance and analysis of the videos from the event that were distributed on social networks, that secondary explosions at the site were caused by Hamas ammunition storage. This suspicion is under investigation,” the IDF said in a statement.
Israeli ground forces were operating in northern and central Gaza, preventing Hamas from rallying terrorist fighters as the main battle rages in the south. “IDF troops are continuing to operate in the northern Gaza Strip, eliminating terrorists and locating weapons in the area,” the military disclosed Tuesday. “IDF troops are intensifying operations in the central Gaza Strip.”
The IDF is also responding to continued cross-border rocket fire from Hezbollah positions in Lebanon. In an overnight strike, the Israel air force hit Hezbollah terror targets. “IAF fighter jets struck a number of Hezbollah terror targets in Lebanese territory, including a weapons storage facility in the area of Meiss El Jabal and military structures in the areas of Ayta ash Shab and Khiam,” the Israel military said.
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