Netherlands will push EU to scrap trade part of Isreal deal over Gaza
The Netherlands will advocate in the European Union for the suspension of the trade section of the association treaty between Israel and the EU due to the “terrible humanitarian situation” in Gaza, caretaker Minister Caspar Veldkamp said. On Tuesday, the death toll in Gaza topped 60,000 people, including over 17,400 children. And the global hunger monitoring system, IPC, warned that the “worst-case scenario of famine” is unfolding in the Palestinian territory.
The trade section of the association agreement involves “many billions of euros in Israeli exports,” the NSC Minister said, RTL Nieuws reports. Velkdamp called it a “very significant step” in addition to the previously announced measures.
On Monday, the caretaker Cabinet imposed entry bans on two extremist Israeli Ministers and summoned the Israeli ambassador, trying to increase pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow aid into Gaza.
The Netherlands’ goal is a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Veldkamp said. “But even without a ceasefire, Israel has full responsibility to comply with international humanitarian law and lift all humanitarian restrictions on the Gaza Strip.”
Veldkamp believes that the Dutch measures are making an impression in Israel, despite opposition parties and aid organizations calling them way too little and far too late. “I see it differently, because the Dutch ambassador to Israel has been summoned. And you are also seeing strong reactions from the two ministers we are sanctioning,” he said.
The Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, also reacted strongly, saying that the Netherlands is trading years of friendship with Israel for “open hostility” and announced a counter-reaction.
Veldkamp’s announced measures provoked mixed reactions in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament. The far-right PVV and conservative christian SGP strongly oppose the measures, while GroenLinks-PvdA, D66, and DENK believe they don’t go far enough. A parliamentary majority supported SP MP Sarah Dobbe’s request to interrupt the summer recess for a debate on Gaza. The debate will likely be next week.
As of July 29, Israel has killed 60,034 people, including at least 17,400 children, in the Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reported based on the latest figures from the Palestinian Health Ministry. That is one out of every 36 people in Gaza dead, and over 90 people killed per day since this war started on October 7, 2023, provoked by a Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, killing 1,137 people. The Gaza death toll does not include the thousands of missing people buried under the rubble.
At least 145,870 people in the Gaza Strip are injured, including 40,500 children and babies. 147 people have starved to death in Gaza due to Israel restricting aid. 88 of them were children and babies.
