Borrell: EU working to avoid conflict that would “make people forget suffering in Gaza”

The response to Iran's attack on Israel should not lead to a large-scale regional conflict that would make people forget about suffering in Gaza, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, said in an interview with Spanish TV Antena 3 on Sunday.

The European Union and the G7 are working against the clock to prevent an Israeli retaliation to Saturday's drone and rocket attack on its territory.

According to Borrell, the West must avoid a regional escalation at all costs, adding “the response [from Israel] should not produce another response and lead to a regional conflict that would make us forget the war in Gaza”, Antena 3 reported.

Borrell noted the famine in Gaza and the thousands of children at risk of dying of malnutrition, as 1.8 million have had their homes destroyed and are living on aid.

“Our efforts have to focus on ending the war in Gaza and giving aid to the people who are paying the consequences (of the war). And for that, we cannot let the war spread and involve Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Yemen (...)”, the EU’s diplomacy chief added.

Since Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1000 people, Israel has struck back, killing nearly 34,000 people, most of whom are civilian women and children.

Regarding the war between Ukraine and Russia, the bloc's top diplomat said an EU foreign ministers' council would soon be convened in Luxembourg to speed up Kyiv's air defence capabilities.

Ukraine is being selectively bombed, and its entire electrical system is being destroyed “to leave it in the dark”, Borrell insisted.

“And that can only be avoided with a glimmer of peace, which there is none”, the Socialist politician added.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)