EU makes new call for end to Gaza 'hostilities'

Israeli soldiers prepare their tanks as they keep position on the Israeli-Gaza Strip border yesterday. Israel rejected world appeals for a truce Tuesday and warned its deadly assault on Gaza could last for weeks as warplanes pummelled Hamas positions for a fourth day and tanks massed on the border.Photo: AFP

The European Commission made a new call yesterday for Palestinian group Hamas and Israel to halt their conflict so urgent supplies can be delivered to the population of the Gaza Strip.
"The European Commission is extremely concerned about the plight of civilians in the Gaza Strip," the EU executive arm said in a statement.
"It calls for an immediate halt to military hostilities that are having a heavy impact on the civilian population in Gaza. It also firmly calls for a halt to the rocket attacks targeting Israeli civilians."
Israel pounded targets in Gaza for the fourth day Tuesday and Hamas has fired scores of rockets into Israel since the collapse of a truce.
At least 363 Palestinians, including 39 children, have been killed and 1,720 wounded since Saturday, according to Gaza medics. Hamas rockets have killed four people in Israel and wounded two dozen.
The Commission said it was "deeply concerned" over events in Gaza.
"The European Commission insists on the need for sufficient access for supplies of essential humanitarian goods to Gaza in particular in view of the dramatic situation of hospitals there.
"Urgent measures have to be taken in order to ensure safe and secure conditions for the distribution of these goods and to facilitate access of international agencies," said the commission statement.
In Jeddah ministers of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference will hold special talks on Saturday on Israel's deadly onslaught on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, an OIC official said on Tuesday.
"The meeting will focus on the grave developments in the Gaza Strip as a consequence of the Israeli attack on the Palestinian people," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
In four days of deadly raids at least 363 Palestinians have been killed inside the battered enclave. Israel on Tuesday rejected international appeals for a ceasefire and warned its offensive on Gaza could last for weeks.
The OIC meeting in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port city of Jeddah will follow a gathering of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo on Wednesday.
On Saturday, the day Israel launched a wave of air raids on Hamas positions inside the besieged Palestinian territory, OIC chief Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu slammed the action as a war crime.
"The latest Israeli massacre is a war crime and shows what little regard Israel has for international law and the fourth Geneva convention on the protection of civilians in time of war," he said in a statement.
The OIC groups 1.3 billion Muslims from 57 countries worldwide.