"There are more than 1.3 million people in the streets of Rafah, and the only shelter they have is a piece of plastic over their heads. The humanitarian consequences would be catastrophic. Everybody is saying this: the United States, the European Union, the member states, and we insist in the G7 and we insist in the Foreign Affairs Council. Let's hope that this does not happen," he said.

The High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy intervened in a debate in the European Parliament, in Strasbourg (France), on the "EU response to the repeated killing of aid workers, journalists and civilians by the Israel Defense Forces in the Gaza Strip".

Recalling the firm positions that the EU-27 has adopted since the beginning of the hostilities, more than six months ago, Borrell said that the numbers show the drama that is being experienced in the Gaza Strip: "more than 34 thousand people killed, mostly civilians, children and women, twice as many injured and 75% of the population displaced, on the verge of starvation".

"The city of Gaza is more destroyed than the German cities during World War II, just imagine. More than 60% of the physical infrastructure has been damaged and 35% totally destroyed," he continued, then lamenting the unprecedented number of aid workers and journalists also killed in Israeli attacks.

"According to the UN, at least 249 aid workers have been killed. I am talking about humanitarian workers," he stressed, pointing out that this number includes "181 UN staff, including 178 from UNWRA", the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.

Josep Borrell also said he was "shocked" by the number of journalists and other media workers killed in Gaza, which according to Reporters Without Borders has already reached a hundred, and commented that such a situation "is unprecedented".

In closing, the High Representative summarized the positions that have been defended by the European Union: "we condemn all terrorist activities, but we want humanitarian law to be respected, we want the hostilities to cease, humanitarian aid to enter, the hostages to be released and a process to be launched with a view to a political solution to this dramatic war".

The ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip was triggered by the attack by the Islamist group Hamas on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023.

Since then, Israel has launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip that has caused nearly 34,000 deaths, mostly civilians, according to Hamas, which has ruled the small Palestinian enclave since 2007.

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