One horror cannot justify another, EU’s Borrell says during visit to Rafah crossing

Borrell on regional tour with goal of containing the escalation of Israel's war against Gaza

EU foreign affairs minister Josep Borrell visits the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. AFP

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EU foreign affairs minister Josep Borrell said during a visit to the Egyptian side of Rafah crossing on Monday that he is concerned that aid provided by the European bloc is not entering Gaza, warning it is “just stuck”.

More needs to be done and faster but there are too many obstacles in the way, Mr Borrell said. It is important for him to visit the region to take stock of the situation and report back to Brussels the importance of solving the crisis by political means, he added.

Mr Borrell said the crisis in Gaza is “human made”. “[There was a] terrorist attack [by] Hamas almost one year ago, and it was a horror that we have condemned in the strongest possible terms, and we continue to condemn it,” he said.

“But one horror cannot justify another horror, and what's happening in Gaza today is another horror."

The EU would "continue supporting the Palestinians, but at the same time knowing that we have to look for a political solution, because to feed someone a dinner tonight in order to be killed tomorrow is not exactly the solution”, he added.

“We have to continue asking for a ceasefire, the release of hostages and stopping the bombing,” he said.

Earlier on Monday, Mr Borrell met Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El Sisi and senior officials in Cairo at the start of a regional tour with the goal of containing the regional escalation of Israel's war against Gaza. Mr Borrell will travel to Lebanon on Wednesday, as Israeli officials call on their army to expand its military operation there amid confrontation with Iran-backed militia Hezbollah.

“The mission forms part of the EU’s continuous regional outreach to prevent further escalation,” the EU's External Action Service said.

Former Israeli defence minister Benny Gantz on Monday said his country's attention should shift from Gaza towards Lebanon, where groups such as Hezbollah “are the real issue".

Israeli MP Nissim Vaturi, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, called for war against Lebanon “within days”, claiming that Hezbollah's stronghold in southern Beirut, Dahieh, will “look like Gaza”.

His visit comes at a time of heightened tension after a Jordanian lorry driver on Sunday shot and killed three Israelis at the Allenby Bridge crossing point between Jordan and the occupied West Bank.

Mr Borrell, in his meetings with Egyptian officials, including Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, will discuss mediation efforts led by Egypt, the US and Qatar, to end the Israel-Gaza war. The EU does not have a direct role in the talks.

“Borrell’s meetings will mostly address ongoing humanitarian efforts and sustained aid access to Gaza. They will also exchange ideas on ceasefire negotiations," Hussein Hareedy, Egyptian diplomat and former assistant foreign minister told The National on Monday. “The EU’s role in Gaza has been more concerned with humanitarian efforts than political ones for a long time/"

The trip to Egypt also comes after Mr Netanyahu insisted last week that Israeli forces would remain in the Salah Al Din corridor in Gaza near the border with Egypt, also known as the Philadelphi corridor. The status of the area would form a key part of any ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

The Salah Al Din corridor was intended to be a demilitarised zone after Israel's peace agreement with Egypt in 1979. Cairo has said it will not accept any Israeli presence in the corridor and is insisting on a return to the status quo before the Gaza war began. This involved Egypt operating the Rafah crossing, which is on the corridor, under Palestinian supervision.

In May, Mr Borrell announced that the European foreign ministers have preliminarily approved the revival of an EU border mission at Rafah. The European Union Border Assistance Mission (Eubam) Rafah has not been operational since 2007 when Hamas seized full control of Gaza.

More than 40,900 people have been killed in Israel's retaliatory military operation after the Hamas-led October 7 attacks that killed about 1,200 people.

In Lebanon, where politicians have failed to nominate a president since October 2022, Mr Borrell will meet the Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib and Lebanese army commander, Joseph Aoun.

No meeting with Hezbollah leaders appeared on the EU statement, but Mr Borrell told Israeli newspaper Haaretz in August that he had met the head of Hezbollah's parliamentary group, Mohammad Raad, in a recent trip to Lebanon.

The EU differentiates between Hezbollah's political wing and military wing – the latter is classified as a terrorist organisation.

Hezbollah, which last fought an all-out war against Israel in 2006, has engaged in low-level warfare against Israel along the border since the October 7 attacks. The fighting has killed some 614 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters but also including 138 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, including in the occupied Golan Heights, authorities have reported the deaths of at least 24 soldiers and 26 civilians, said AFP. It has also led to the evacuation of thousands of Israelis living close to the border.