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Israel’s war against Hamas is seeding hate, and a two-state solution is needed, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Monday amid escalating international pressure on Israel to work toward a long-term political road map to peace.
Commenting before a day of intense diplomacy in Brussels — where European foreign ministers are gathering alongside counterparts from Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Arab League — Borrell said he knows that Israel has “a different stand.”
“Which are the other solutions they have in mind?” he asked, referring to the Israelis. “To make all the Palestinians leave? To kill … them?” He added that the current Israeli military operation that has killed 25,000 people in the Gaza Strip is “seeding the hate for generations.”
They were ready to give up on Israel. Now they’re all in.
But as he spoke, Israel appeared to be intensifying its operations in the densely packed southern part of the enclave. Amid heavy bombardment, families reported having to flee southwestern zones including the seaside al-Mawasi area, which had been designated by Israel as a safe zone.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said it has completely lost contact with teams in the southern city of Khan Younis due to the Israeli “ground invasion.”
Israeli troops had stormed al-Khair Hospital in western Khan Younis and detained medical staff, the Gaza Health Ministry said. Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra called the health situation in Gaza “catastrophic and indescribable.” The Washington Post was unable to verify the report.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has said he is proud of his historic efforts to block Palestinian statehood, has repeatedly rejected the idea. A Palestinian state is an “existential danger” to Israel, he reiterated Sunday, vowing to continue to oppose it as long as he is prime minister.
But the bloodshed of the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 and devastating pace of civilian casualties in Israel’s ensuing war have revived a push for a two-state solution. The notion of two states for two people is broadly supported in the international community, including by the United States and the United Nations.
“I think that we have to stop talking about the peace process and start talking more concretely about the two-state solution process,” Borrell said ahead of the meetings in Brussels, where he will present a 12-point plan to revitalize the Middle East peace process.
The plan “aims to address the conflict and occupation that preceded the Gaza war and that, if left unaddressed, must be expected to lead to further wars,” according to a copy obtained by The Washington Post.
“There is no credible comprehensive solution other than an independent Palestinian State living side by side with Israel, in peace and security, with full normalization and substantive development of security and economic cooperation between Israel, Palestine and the region,” it said. It called for the establishment of a “Preparatory Peace Conference” at “the earliest opportunity” to discuss a lasting solution.
Middle Eastern countries represented in Brussels on Monday have also been working on plans to end the conflict, with Saudi Arabia explicitly tying normalization of relations with Israel to a credible path to Palestinian statehood.
Ahead of the meetings in Brussels, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz held up photos of Israeli hostages in Gaza, saying he was in Brussels to discuss their return, as well as to build support for Israel’s efforts to dismantle Hamas.
He ignored questions about the possibility of a two-state solution, the Times of Israel reported.
Netanyahu on Sunday rejected what he said were conditions put forth by Hamas for the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza — including an end to the war and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Strip. Agreeing to these terms and leaving Hamas in place in Gaza would be “a mortal blow to the security of Israel,” he said.
“Only total victory will ensure the elimination of Hamas and the return of all our hostages,” Netanyahu said in a statement, adding that he had emphasized this position in a call with President Biden over the weekend.
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On Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told a meeting with the relatives of hostages that the operation in Khan Younis is “in full swing” and that “there are preliminary indications that we have reached the most sensitive Hamas locations,” he said.
Imad al-Samri, a 58-year-old resident who sought refuge on the al-Aqsa University campus in Mawasi described evacuating with his family on Monday morning as shells rained down on the university building and its gate.
Samri and his family, along with thousands of displaced individuals within the university, fled toward the precarious safety between Khan Younis and Rafah, seeking refuge in tents erected there.
“This night could be one of the most difficult nights,” he said. “We barely escaped.”
During the early days of its assault on the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces demanded that residents move south into Khan Younis and Rafah for shelter. Khan Younis, once considered safe, now has some of the heaviest fighting, and Rafah is increasingly running out of resources as more and more displaced people stream in.
In another corner of Khan Younis, 31-year-old Muhammad al-Zarie, who was residing with his brothers in a tent near the city center, spoke of the ceaseless echoes of strikes and shelling resonating through the night and morning hours.
“We don’t know where we will go if they advance farther. Thousands of displaced people arrived in the morning, and there is no place for them in this camp,” he said. “The army instructed us to head to al-Mawasi, and we are here, but this area is no longer safe.”
Morris reported from Berlin, Rauhala from Brussels and Balousha from Amman. Lior Soroka in Tel Aviv, Niha Masih in Seoul and Annabelle Timsit in London contributed to this report.