Belgium’s (Brussels Morning) Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, criticizes the lack of humanity in delivering aid to Gaza, urging Israel to ensure humanitarian access.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo has criticised the “lack of humanity” in the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, as he starts his latest trip to the Middle East. “Israel must display as a matter of urgency that it is not utilising famine as a weapon of war by opening up humanitarian entrance routes to the population of Gaza,” demanded the Belgian Prime Minister in Amman, Jordan.
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo is visiting Jordan, Qatar, and Egypt this weekend to concern the ongoing battle between Israel and Hamas and the disastrous-level food crisis with the growing risk of famine in the Gaza Strip. “There is no deficiency of humanitarian aid, just a lack of humanity in the manner the aid is organised,” De Croo informed the press in the Jordanian capital. He said alongside Sigrid Kaag, the UN humanitarian aid and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza and former Dutch minister. The two leaders urged that “there is no valid alternative” to providing aid to Gaza by land.
Airdrops, as Belgium and other governments have been doing for the last few weeks in Gaza, nor the sea passage that has opened up in recent hours, are useful in reaching the people who need it most. De Croo also emphasised that these routes are also very costly. As a result, these solutions remain effectively “symbolic” in the face of a “destructive” humanitarian situation.
Belgium is also a member of Jordan and other countries in delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza. The Belgian Defence’s A400M aircraft, completing the aid drops, takes off from Jordan. The Prime Minister will see these military personnel. In Northern Gaza, the number of children under the age of 2 suffering from extreme malnutrition in the last month has doubled, according to UNICEF. Now 31% of children in this age group are impacted, with 23 having died of hunger or thirst in recent weeks. Two weeks ago, the Belgian Government consented to a payment of €13.5 million to UNRWA.
Meanwhile, talks have continued with three mediating countries (Qatar, Egypt and the United States) in an endeavour to reach a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The circumstances in Gaza will further be a concern on Sunday in Cairo, where De Croo is due to encounter President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi. Egypt controls Gaza’s only land crossing which is not possessed by Israel, near Rafah, to which around 1.5 million Gazans have sought refuge under extreme conditions.
Despite international objection, this is where the Israeli military endangers imminent intrusion.
A significant pre-deal on migration between the EU and Egypt will also be a central component of this mission. Egypt is seen by the EU as a homeland of transit, origin, and destination for refugees escaping instability in the Middle East, Sudan, and Libya. As part of the Belgian EU Presidency, De Croo will join EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in signing a ‘global cooperation agreement’ which aims to curb varying migration through increased border control and return policy cooperation.
The Prime Ministers of Italy and Greece – frontline nations for migrant crossings – will also observe the ceremony. This type of agreement, seen as another endeavour to stem migration flows, is contentious due to Egypt’s human rights record, particularly applicable to the country’s authoritative regime which arose from a 2013 military coup.
Following contracts with Tunisia and Mauritania, the third ‘global agreement’ would also cover energy (hydrogen), education, and skillfulness, in return for European funding incorporated in a multi-billion package in donations and loans by 2027. “As EU leaders seek to bolster their ties with Egypt, they must not attempt being complicit in the country’s ongoing grave human rights violations,” stated Amnesty International’s Head of the European Institutions Office, Eve Geddie.
