Israel controls 77% of Gaza as ‘genocide, ethnic cleansing’ continues

The Israeli military now controls 77 percent of the Gaza Strip, the enclaves Government Media Office said, through ongoing genocide, ethnic cleansing, and occupation.

The Israeli military is in effect controlling 77 percent of the Gaza Strip through continued genocide, ethnic cleansing, the enclaves Government Media Office said, calling on the UN and the international community to take action to stop blatant defiance of all international laws and norms.

This is achieved through direct ground incursions and the deployment of occupation forces within residential and civilian areas, through heavy fire control that prevents Palestinian citizens from accessing their homes, areas, lands, and property, or through unjust forced eviction policies, it said in a statement.

The office called on the UN and the international community to take action to stop the Israeli expansion.

The continued genocide, ethnic cleansing, colonialism, aggression, and occupation control over the vast majority of the Gaza Strip reflects an Israeli political will to impose a final solution by force, in blatant defiance of all international laws and norms, the statement said.

At least 38 Palestinians have been killed and 204 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the latest 24-hour reporting period, according to the enclaves Health Ministry.

The statement published on Telegram said the numbers do not include victims received by hospitals in northern Gaza due to the difficulty of accessing them.

The total death toll from Israels brutal war on Gaza has risen to 53,939 people killed and 122,797 injured since October 7, 2023, it said.

At least 3,785 people have been killed and 10,756 injured in the enclave since March 18 when Israel broke a two-month ceasefire, the ministry said.

Outrage, horror after Israeli attack kills nine children of Gaza doctor

An Israeli strike has killed nearly the entire family of a Khan Younis doctor while she was at work, Gaza health officials said.

The attack hit the home of Alaa al-Najjar, a paediatrician at the southern city’s Nasser Hospital, on Friday, setting it ablaze and killing nine of her 10 children, according to the head of the hospital’s paediatrics department, Ahmad al-Farra.

The dead children, two of whom remain under the rubble, range in age from seven months to 12 years old, said Gaza’s Government Media Office. It named them as Sidar, Luqman, Sadin, Reval, Ruslan, Jubran, Eve, Rakan and Yahya.

Al-Najjar’s husband was critically injured in the attack. He has severe chest and head wounds, including a skull fracture, and is now receiving treatment in Nasser Hospital’s intensive care unit, al-Farra told Al Jazeera.

The couple’s only surviving child, 11-year-old Adam, is also severely injured. He is currently “in the moderate ICU department with his mother”, said al-Farra.

“It is unbelievable,” al-Farra said of the attack’s impact. “You can’t imagine the shock that [al-Najjar] had when she heard about that [attack]. But up until now, she is trying to be near her son and her husband to survive.”

He called on people around the world to “be on the right side of humanity” and speak out against the bombardment. “These children, they have no voice. Their mother … she’s [in shock],” he said. “Please, I ask everyone to be her voice [in] this world. Please.”

‘New phase of genocide’

The UN’s special rapporteur for the Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, slammed the attack on the al-Najjar home as part of a “sadistic pattern” of a “new phase of genocide” facing Palestinians in the besieged enclave.

Two doctors go to work to assist others.Nine of their kids are killed by an Israeli missile targeting their home. Only surviving child, in critical conditions.

Targeting families in the still-standing buildings: distinguishable sadistic pattern of the new phase of the genocide. https://t.co/6tlylARKK5

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) May 24, 2025

sonnel, civilians and their families in an attempt to break their will”.

The Israeli military said it had struck suspected fighters operating from a structure next to its forces in an area where civilians had been evacuated. “The claim regarding harm to uninvolved civilians is under review,” the military added.

On Monday, Israel issued forced evacuation orders for Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city, warning of an “unprecedented attack”. There has been heavy, deadly bombardment in the area daily.

The al-Najjar children were among dozens killed in Israel’s attacks on Friday and Saturday.

Putin’s helicopter was caught in Ukrainian drone swarm – commander

FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin aboard a helicopter. ©Sputnik/Dmitry Ermolenko

The helicopter carrying Russian President Vladimir Putin was caught in the “epicenter” of a massive Ukrainian drone attack while the president was visiting Kursk Region earlier this week, Yury Dashkin, a commander of an air defense division, has revealed.

Putin traveled to Russia’s Kursk Region on Tuesday for the first time since it was fully liberated from Ukrainian forces in April. During his trip, the president met with Governor Aleksandr Khinshtein, as well as the heads of local municipalities and volunteers who have been helping those affected by the now-repulsed Ukrainian incursion, according to the Kremlin.

In an interview with the channel Russia 1 aired on Sunday, Dashkin revealed that Putin’s helicopter had found itself “in the epicenter of an operation to repel a massive drone attack by the enemy” in Kursk Region.

Kiev launched an “unprecedented” UAV assault on the region when the president was there, with Russian air defenses destroying 46 incoming fixed-wing UAVs, according to Dashkin.

“I would like to stress the fact that the intensity of the attacks during the flight of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief’s aircraft over the territory of Kursk Region increased significantly,” he said.

The air defense units in the area had to “simultaneously conduct anti-aircraft combat and ensure the safety of the president’s helicopter in the air. The task was accomplished. The attack of the enemy drones was repelled, with all aerial targets being hit,” Dashkin stated.

Ukraine significantly intensified its drone strikes inside Russia this past week. The Foreign Ministry in Moscow reported that 764 drones had been intercepted over Russian territory between Tuesday and Friday. According to the Defense Ministry, the scale of the assault has not abated, with hundreds more UAVs being destroyed on Saturday and Sunday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday that “some European nations led by the UK, France, Germany, and the EU leadership,” who are supporting Kiev and want the conflict to continue, bear some responsibility for the drone raids.

On the same day, the Russian Foreign Ministry suggested that the spike in the UAV incursions was an attempt to derail the US-brokered peace talks between Moscow and Kiev. The ministry stressed that Russia’s “fundamental commitment to a constructive search for a peaceful settlement through dialogue remains unchanged.”

Israel kills Gaza doctor’s 9 children; 4-year-old boy starves to death

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 53,901 Palestinians and wounded 122,593, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Government Media Office updated the death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of people missing under the rubble are presumed dead.

Nearly 80 people have been killed in the latest round of Israeli strikes in Gaza – a death toll that doesn't include hospitals in the battered north that the Hamas-run Health Ministry said are now inaccessible.

The dead over the past 24 hours included nine of a doctor's 10 children, horrified colleagues and the health ministry said.

Alaa Najjar, a pediatrician at Nasser Hospital, was on duty at the time and ran home to find her family's house on fire, Ahmad al-Farra, head of the hospital's pediatric department, told The Associated Press.

An Israeli air strike on Gaza hit the home of a doctor and killed nine of her 10 children, the hospital where she works in the city of Khan Younis says.

Nasser hospital said one of Dr Alaa al-Najjar's children and her husband were injured, but survived.

Graeme Groom, a British surgeon working in the hospital who operated on her surviving 11-year-old boy, told the BBC it was "unbearably cruel" that his mother, who spent years caring for children as a paediatrician, could lose almost all her own in a single missile strike.

Israel's military said its aircraft had struck "a number of suspects" in Khan Younis on Friday, and "the claim regarding harm to uninvolved civilians is under review".

A video shared by the director of the Hamas-run health ministry and verified by the BBC showed small burned bodies lifted from the rubble of a strike in Khan Younis.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its "aircraft struck a number of suspects who were identified operating from a structure adjacent to IDF troops in the area of Khan Younis".

"The Khan Younis area is a dangerous war zone. Before beginning operations there, the IDF evacuated civilians from this area for their own safety," the Israeli military said.

In a general statement on Saturday, the IDF said it had struck more than 100 targets across Gaza over the past day.

Adam, 11, is Dr Alaa al-Najjar's only surviving child

The health ministry said at least 74 people had been killed by the Israeli military over the 24 hour-period leading up to about midday on Saturday.

Dr Muneer Alboursh, director of the health ministry, said on X that the al-Najjars' family house was hit minutes after Dr al-Najjar's husband Hamdi had returned home after driving his wife to work.

Dr Alboursh said the eldest of Dr al-Najjar's children was aged 12.

Mr Groom said the children's father was "very badly injured", in a video posted on the Instagram account of another British surgeon working at Nasser hospital, Victoria Rose.

He told the BBC that the father had a "penetrating injury to his head".

He said he had asked about the father, also a doctor at the hospital, and had been told he had "no political and no military connections and doesn't seem to be prominent on social media".

He described it as an "unimaginable" situation for Dr Alaa al-Najjar.

Mr Groom said the surviving 11-year-old boy, Adam, was "quite small" for his age.

"His left arm was just about hanging off, he was covered in fragment injuries and he had several substantial lacerations," he told the BBC.

"Since both his parents are doctors, he seemed to be among the privileged group within Gaza, but as we lifted him onto the operating table, he felt much younger than 11."

"Our little boy could survive, but we don't know about his father," he added.

Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for Gaza's Hamas-run Civil Defence agency, said on Telegram on Friday afternoon that his teams had recovered eight bodies and several injured from the al-Najjar house near a petrol station in Khan Younis.

The hospital initially posted on Facebook that eight children had been killed, then two hours later updated that number to nine.

Another doctor, Youssef Abu al-Rish, said in a statement posted by the health ministry that he had arrived to the operating room to find Dr al-Najjar waiting for information about her surviving son and tried to console her.

In an interview recorded by AFP news agency, relative Youssef al-Najjar said: "Enough! Have mercy on us! We plead to all countries, the international community, the people, Hamas, and all factions to have mercy on us.

"We are exhausted from the displacement and the hunger, enough!"

On Friday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that people in Gaza were enduring what may be "the cruellest phase" of the war, and denounced Israel's blockade on humanitarian aid imposed in March.

Israel partially lifted the blockade earlier this week. Israeli military body Cogat said 83 more trucks carrying flour, food, medical equipment pharmaceutical drugs entered Gaza on Friday.

The UN has repeatedly said the amount of aid entering is nowhere near enough for the territory's 2.1 million people - saying between 500 to 600 trucks a day are needed - and has called for Israel to allow in much more.

The limited amount of food that trickled into Gaza this week sparked chaotic scenes, with armed looters attacking an aid convoy and Palestinians crowding outside bakeries in a desperate attempt to obtain bread.

A UN-backed assessment this month said Gaza's population was at "critical risk" of famine.

People in Gaza have told the BBC they have no food, and malnourished mothers are unable to breastfeed babies.

Chronic shortages of water are also worsening as desalination and hygiene plants are running out of fuel, and Israel's expanding military offensive causes new waves of displacement.

Israel has said the blockade was intended to put pressure on Hamas to release the hostages still held in Gaza.

Israel has accused Hamas of stealing supplies, which the group has denied.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas's cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 53,901 people, including at least 16,500 children, have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.

Russian military strikes drone-making plant in Kiev – MOD

FILE PHOTO: The assembly shop of the Antonov Serial Plant in Kiev, Ukraine.
©Sputnik/Sergey Mamontov

The Russian military has carried out a successful strike against a drone and missile production plant in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.

The statement, issued by the ministry on Saturday, confirms earlier reports of a large-scale Russian drone and missile strike on Kiev overnight. Witnesses said they heard multiple blasts, with photos uploaded on social media capturing a huge explosion in the city.

“The Russian military performed a group strike with high-precision ground-based weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles against a Ukrainian military-industrial complex enterprise that produces missile weapons and unmanned aerial attack vehicles,” the statement read.

The other targets of the attack were a radar surveillance center and a US-made Patriot air defense system, it added.

“All of the goals of the strike were achieved. All designated targets were hit,” the ministry said.

According to media reports, the Russian strike targeted the Antonov aircraft manufacturing plant in the western part of the capital.

The Russian bombardment came after an intensification of Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow and other Russian regions this week.

According to the Defense Ministry, 788 drones and 12 missiles were intercepted inside Russia between Tuesday and Friday. Another 104 UAVs were intercepted overnight, the ministry said on Saturday morning.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday that one person had been killed and 20 others injured, including four children, in Ukrainian drone strikes throughout the week. Four more civilians, including two kids, were wounded after the city of Lgov in Kursk Region was hit by a US-supplied HIMARS multiple rocket launcher, according to the ministry.

The Russian military said it would respond appropriately to the intensified drone raids by Kiev, but “unlike the Ukrainian side, our targets will be strictly limited to military facilities and defense industry plants,” it said.

Attacks by over 100 Ukrainian drones repelled overnight – MOD

Russian air defenses have eliminated 104 Ukrainian drones in the country’s airspace overnight, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.

Belgorod Region, where 74 drones were shot down, was most affected, the ministry said in a statement on Saturday morning.

Bryansk Region saw 24 interceptions, and UAVs were also destroyed in Kursk, Lipetsk, Voronezh and Tula regions, according to the statement.

The ministry did not report any incursions in Moscow Region; the capital has been the main target of Kiev’s drone attacks in recent days.

Ukraine has intensified its UAV raids this week, with 776 UAVs being shot down in Russian airspace between Tuesday and Friday, according to the Defense Ministry.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday that the incursions had led to one person being killed and injured 20, including four children.

According to the ministry, the continued “terror attacks against civilians” by Kiev’s forces are “an attempt to thwart direct Russia-Ukraine talks facilitated by the US administration [of President Donald Trump], which are designed to settle the conflict definitively.”

The Russian military will respond to the drone raids, but “unlike the Ukrainian side, our targets will be strictly limited to military facilities and defense industry plants,” the Foreign Ministry stressed.

Gaza enduring ‘cruelest phase of cruel conflict’, UN chief says

Palestinian children wait in front of a hot meal distribution truck at a displacement camp near Gaza City's port. AFP

Gaza City – The United Nations chief said Friday that Palestinians were enduring "the cruelest phase" of the war in Gaza, where more than a dozen food trucks were looted following the partial easing of a lengthy Israeli blockade.

Aid was just beginning to trickle back into the war-torn territory after Israel announced it would allow limited shipments to resume as it pressed a newly expanded offensive aimed at destroying Hamas.

Gaza's civil defence agency reported at least 16 people killed in "Israeli strikes in various areas across" the territory on Friday.

Agency official Mohammed al-Mughayyir told AFP the attacks had also wounded dozens of people.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said "Palestinians in Gaza are enduring what may be the cruelest phase of this cruel conflict", adding that Israel "must agree to allow and facilitate" humanitarian deliveries.

He pointed to snags, however, noting that of the nearly 400 trucks cleared to enter Gaza in recent days, only 115 were able to be collected.

"In any case, all the aid authorised until now amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required," he added in a statement.

"Meanwhile, the Israeli military offensive is intensifying with atrocious levels of death and destruction," he said.

In a statement, the World Food Programme said Friday that 15 of its "trucks were looted late last night in southern Gaza, while en route to WFP-supported bakeries".

"Hunger, desperation, and anxiety over whether more food aid is coming, is contributing to rising insecurity," the UN body said, calling on Israeli authorities "to get far greater volumes of food assistance into Gaza faster".

Aid shipments to the Gaza Strip restarted on Monday for the first time since March 2, amid mounting condemnation of the Israeli blockade, which has sparked severe shortages of food and medicine.

'No one should be surprised'

COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body that oversees civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, said that 107 humanitarian aid trucks entered Gaza on Thursday.

But Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said Friday that the UN had brought in 500 to 600 per day on average during a six-week ceasefire that broke down in March.

"No one should be surprised let alone shocked at scenes of precious aid looted, stolen or 'lost'," he said on X, adding that "the people of Gaza have been starved" for more than 11 weeks.

The Israeli military said that over the past day, its forces had attacked "military compounds, weapons storage facilities and sniper posts" in Gaza.

"In addition, the (air force) struck over 75 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip," it added.

The military said on Friday afternoon that air raid sirens were activated in communities near Gaza, later reporting that "a projectile that crossed into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip was intercepted" by the air force.

In Gaza's north, Al-Awda hospital reported Friday that three of its staff were injured "after Israeli quadcopter drones dropped bombs" on the facility.

An AFP journalist saw large plumes of smoke billowing above destroyed buildings in southern Gaza after Israeli bombardments.

Israel resumed operations in Gaza on March 18, ending the ceasefire that began on January 19.

On Friday, Gaza's health ministry said at least 3,673 people had been killed in the territory since then, taking the war's overall toll to 53,822, mostly civilians.

Hamas's October 2023 attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

'Absolutely horrifying': Children face disease, starvation, bombardment, poor hygiene and sanitation

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Friday said Palestinians in Gaza are "enduring what may be the cruelest phase of this cruel conflict" as Israel ramps up its military offensive. Israel resumed major operations in Gaza on March 18, ending a two-month ceasefire. Aid began trickling into the Gaza Strip this week for the first time in more than two months, amid condemnation of the Israeli blockade that sparked severe shortages of food and medicine. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective on the humanitarian crisis in war-torn Gaza, FRANCE 24's Erin Ogunkeye welcomes Jonathon Crickx, Spokesperson for UNICEF Palestine.

Israel pounds Gaza, killing 42, as EU, UK step up pressure

Israeli forces continue bombarding Gaza, killing at least 42 people since dawn, dismissing criticism from the UK and the EU over the “monstrous” war in the enclave.

Authorities in Gaza say Israel’s “starvation policy” has killed at least 326 Palestinians since March 2, as the UN warns that 14,000 babies are at risk of dying within 48 hours.

The UN also says no aid has been distributed in Gaza because of Israeli restrictions despite a handful of aid trucks entering the territory.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 53,573 Palestinians and wounded 121,688, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Government Media Office updated the death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of people missing under the rubble are presumed dead.

European and UK officials ratcheted up pressure on Israel over its latest offensive in Gaza, expanding the international outcry over the humanitarian crisis caused by the conflict.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said the European Union should use diplomatic measures and possibly even sanctions to persuade Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt the assault.

Britain, France and Canada Condemn Israel’s Expansion of Gaza War

Israel’s threats to drastically escalate the war in Gaza and its blockade of humanitarian aid to a Palestinian population at risk of famine have drawn the sharpest condemnation yet from some powerful Western allies since the conflict began 19 months ago.

On Tuesday, Britain said it was suspending talks with Israel on expanding a free-trade agreement. The day before, Britain, France and Canada issued a rare public reprimand of Israel, demanding it cease the renewed military offensive.

“We have always supported Israel’s right to defend Israelis against terrorism,” a joint statement by the three countries said. “But this escalation is wholly disproportionate.”

The message made clear that Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, the high Palestinian death toll and the abysmal humanitarian conditions in Gaza were pushing some of the country’s most powerful international supporters to the limits of what they would tolerate.

Israel is threatening to take full control of Gaza in the next stage of the war and hem Gazans into even more limited zones. Israel has also been blocking humanitarian aid from Gaza for more than two months, even as the U.N. warns that the population is under threat of famine.

This weekend, Israel said it would begin allowing some humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza. But the authorities let only five trucks in on Monday.

Britain, France and Canada called the expanded Israeli campaign against Hamas in Gaza and the withholding of aid “egregious actions” that cannot continue.

“If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response,” the statement said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said Britain, France and Canada had handed a “huge prize” to Hamas. He accused them of tacitly encouraging a repeat of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, that killed some 1,200 people in Israel, with 250 taken as hostages to Gaza.

“This is a war of civilization over barbarism,” Mr. Netanyahu said on social media. “Israel will continue to defend itself by just means until total victory is achieved.”

The statements from allied countries were a distinct contrast from the early days after the 2023 attack, when governments rushed to back Israel. But as the death toll in Gaza grows and suffering deepens, diplomatic support is fading.

Israel has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Gazan health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The United States, Israel’s most powerful patron, has not publicly criticized the renewed Israeli offensive. But President Trump has increasingly bypassed Mr. Netanyahu, cutting a separate deal with Hamas to free the last living American hostage and skipping Israel on his trip to the Middle East last week.

On Friday, Mr. Trump said “a lot of people are starving” in Gaza under the Israeli blockade and the United States wanted to help alleviate the suffering.

In Britain on Tuesday, Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced in Parliament the suspension of free-trade talks with Israel, condemning what he said were Mr. Netanyahu’s plans to “drive Gazans from their homes into a corner of the strip to the south and permit them a fraction of the aid that they need.”

European Officials Step Up Pressure on Israel Over Gaza War

The European Union will review its wide-ranging trade and cooperation agreement with Israel over its widened offensive in Gaza and its failure to fully lift a two-month aid blockade.

The decision came on Tuesday after 17 of the bloc's 27 foreign ministers backed the move, tabled earlier this month by the Dutch foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp.

It means the EU executive will now launch a review to establish whether Israel has violated its human rights obligations under Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, a broad-ranging pact that defines the trading and diplomatic relations between both sides.

"It is clear from today's discussions that there is a strong majority in favour of a review of article 2 of our Association Agreement with Israel," the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, told reporters in Brussels.

"We will launch this review and in the meantime, it is up to Israel to release more humanitarian aid."

The EU is Israel’s biggest trade partner, with the trading relationship valued at more than €45 billion a year.

Ireland and Spain first tabled the prospect of re-opening the Association Agreement in a yet-unanswered letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen 15 months ago, but failed to secure the firm backing of any other EU country.

But the move gained new momentum in recent weeks when the Netherlands, considered a firm ally of Israel, said that Israel's “humanitarian blockade” on Gaza, where a limited quantity of critical supplies entered for the first time in more than eleven weeks on Monday, is in "violation of international humanitarian law" and therefore of Article 2.

Nine member states — Belgium, Finland, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden — had publicly backed the Netherlands' proposal ahead of Tuesday's gathering of foreign ministers.

Denmark, Estonia, Malta, Poland, Romania and Slovakia also backed the review on Tuesday, according to diplomatic sources. Austria, a staunch supporter of Israel, did not take the floor to voice any opposition, another diplomat said.

Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy and Lithuania were said to be against, while Latvia was "neutral", the sources also said.

Another proposal to ramp up pressure on Israel by introducing further sanctions on Israeli settlers responsible for violence in the West Bank was backed by 26 of the 27 member states but vetoed by Hungary.

The Swedish foreign minister, Maria Malmer Stenergard, had suggested that she would go further and “push for EU sanctions against individual Israeli ministers.”

Earlier on Tuesday, the UK suspended trade talks and summoned the Israeli ambassador over what it described as the “intolerable” offensive in Gaza. It came after the leaders of the UK, France, and Canada threatened “concrete actions” if Israel did not halt its campaign and aid lift restrictions.

The EU’s position on the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’ attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, has always been deeply divided.

Former EU High Representative Josep Borrell personally tabled the prospect of suspending ties with Israel back in November, which ultimately led to the convening of a closed-door meeting between the Israeli foreign minister and his EU counterparts.

In that meeting, chaired by Borrell’s successor Kaja Kallas, calls for reviewing Article 2 were completely muted as a ceasefire was in force in Gaza.

The eleven-week blockade on the entry of aid seems to have triggered a shift in thinking among the 27.

Top diplomat Kaja Kallas said that while Israel's decision to allow a limited number of trucks to enter the enclave was "welcome", it was a "drop in the ocean".

"Aid must flow immediately and at scale," Kallas said.