European Union divided over response to suspected Israeli rights breaches

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BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Union’s top diplomat said on Monday she would take up concerns over suspected human rights breaches by Israel with its government, as talks in Brussels underscored divisions within the bloc over how to influence Israeli actions in Gaza.

Kaja Kallas said her priority was to improve the humanitarian situation in the enclave amid concern in European capitals over Israeli operations there.

The European Union’s diplomatic service said in a report seen by Reuters on Friday there were indications that Israel had breached its human rights obligations under the terms of a pact governing its ties with the bloc.

Israel’s foreign ministry has rejected the EU report as a “moral and methodological failure”.

“I will now address the results of the review with Israel,” Kallas said at a news conference following a meeting of European foreign ministers. “Our first goal is to change the situation on the ground and help humanitarian aid to get in,” Kallas said.

Kallas said she would come back to the issue in July if there had been no improvement.

The report includes a section dedicated to the situation in Gaza, covering issues related to denial of humanitarian aid, attacks on hospitals and medical facilities, displacement, and lack of accountability.

The report also looks at the situation in the West Bank, including settler violence.

“It is not intended to punish Israel, but to trigger concrete improvements for the people and the lives of people in Gaza,” Kallas said.

Under the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which came into force in 2000, the EU and Israel agreed that their relationship “shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles”.

EU nations were split over how to respond to the report, which cited assessments by independent international institutions.

While Spain called for the suspension of the agreement with Israel, others including Germany and Italy opposed such a move.

“This is the time for action,” Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters ahead of the ministers’ meeting in Brussels, calling for an arms embargo and sanctions on individuals who undermine the possibility of a two-state solution.

Others expressed hope the report could help shift Israel’s policies.

“I think this can be a chance to put further pressure on Israel to allow humanitarian aid to enter,” Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said.

(Reporting by Lili Bayer, Sudip Kar-Gupta and Milan Stahm in Brussels, Charlotte Van Campenhout in Amsterdam, Anna Ringstrom in Stockholm, Inti Landauro in Madrid and Alvise Armellini in Rome; Editing by Richard Lough and Jan Harvey)