Gaza situation must improve, Dutch Min. says as EU takes no new measures against Israel
Israel must prove that it is keeping its promise to improve the situation in Gaza, Dutch caretaker Minister Caspar Veldkamp of Foreign Affairs said after a meeting with his EU colleagues in which they decided not to take new measures against the Israeli regime. The Ministers discussed ten potential sanctions against Israel after an investigation showed that Israel was violating the human rights requirements in its trade deal with the EU, but couldn’t agree on implementing a single one, NOS reports.
The ten measures will remain on the table, intended as a stick behind the door if Israel fails to honor the agreements made with the EU last week, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said after the meeting. She did not elaborate on what the agreements entailed, but it is known that more aid to the starving population of the Gaza Strip is part of it. “We are seeing positive signs,” she said. According to her, more goods are entering Gaza, and border crossings have been opened.
According to Veldkamp, everyone agreed that measures would be implemented if Israel doesn’t honor its agreements. “These shouldn’t be measures on paper. Everyone agrees; they must actually be implemented,” the caretaker Minister said.
Aid organization Oxfam Novib called the outcome of the EU talks an utter failure. “Despite months of hard work, an investigation, sharp conclusions, and a list of possible sanctions, EU foreign Ministers, including Minister Veldkamp, have once again decided to do absolutely nothing,” the organization said. “They are thus choosing to continue supporting Israel, while the genocide in Gaza continues and European complicity persists.”
According to Amnesty International, the European Union is betraying its own rules by not scrapping the trade agreement despite Israel’s violations. “This will go down in history as one of the most shameful moments in the EU’s history,” the human rights organization said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Veldkamp said that Israel had already let 180 trucks of aid into Gaza on Monday due to the agreements with the EU and 160 trucks the day before. The United Nations told NOS that the number of UN trucks entering Gaza is lower than the number quoted by Veldkamp and still not nearly enough. According to the UN, 500 to 600 trucks of aid are needed per day.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza are suffering from acute malnutrition because Israel has been cutting off access to aid for months. The UN is currently only able to distribute food at a limited number of distribution points. Israel has killed 875 people at these distribution points in six weeks, the UN said. The Israeli army acknowledged targeting starving civilians at food distribution points, but called it “isolated incidents.”
As of 13 July 2025, Israel has killed at least 58,026 people in the Gaza Strip, including 17,400 children, Al Jazeera reported based on figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health. At least 138,520 people are injured.
Israel’s persistent attacks on the Gaza Strip started as retaliation for a Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, killing 1,139 people.
