Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday slammed remarks by European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Joseph Borrell Fontelles, who repeatedly claimed this week that Gazans are suffering a “full-blown famine,” starving because Israel is not sending enough humanitarian aid into Gaza.
The much feared scenario has come true: according to @WFPChief Cindy McCain, there’s full-blown famine in the north of Gaza, moving to the south.
The so far unheard demands by the international community must be listened to: UNSCR 2728 must be implemented fully & immediately.
1/3— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) May 6, 2024
“Israel’s evacuation orders to civilians in Rafah portend the worst: more war and famine. It is unacceptable,” Borrell wrote in one of multiple, increasingly frantic posts on the X social media platform. “Israel must renounce to a ground offensive and implement UNSCR 2728. The EU, with the International Community, can and must act to prevent such scenario,” he wrote.
In all of the posts, as well as in the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2728, there is not one single mention of the cause of all this angst: the Hamas terrorist organization that launched a war against Israel and which continues to hold 132 hostages kidnapped on October 7 and dragged into Gaza captivity, not all of whom are even still alive.
But the United Nations has not bothered to condemn Hamas for the October 7 massacre of more than 1,200 people in southern Israel. The United Nations does not identify Hamas as a terrorist organization.
“The High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs Joseph Borrell Fontelles remarks’ this week regarding the negotiations for the release of the hostages are a dangerous mix of ignorance, hostility, and the legitimization of terrorism,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry warned.
“In the midst of the negotiations for the release of the 132 hostages and to achieve humanitarian relief, Hamas chose to launch rocket fire towards the Kerem Shalom humanitarian crossing area, killing four Israeli soldiers. The rocket fire that killed the four Israelis was launched from Rafah.”
It is also relevant to point out that an additional IDF soldier was wounded on Wednesday in another of several Hamas rocket attacks on the Kerem Shalom Crossing, again launched from Rafah.
“The organization that fires at the humanitarian crossing in attempts to kill the deal for the release of the hostages and humanitarian relief is the Hamas terrorist organization,” the ministry reminded Borrell.
“Accepting Hamas’s media manipulations encourages terrorism. Israel will act wherever necessary to protect its citizens, and will continue to operate until the release of the 132 hostages and the destruction of Hamas.”
