The need to take all the necessary measures to ensure the access of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip was pointed out by the President of the European Council Charles Michel during a press conference he gave shortly after the end of the first day of the Summit in Brussels .

In its conclusions on the Middle East, the European Council expresses great concern at the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza and calls for “continuous, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access and assistance to reach those in need through all necessary measures, including humanitarian corridors and humanitarian pauses’.

Charles Michel stressed that there was a strong call from all European leaders to Hamas to immediately release all hostages without conditions. He also underlined that European leaders discussed the “existential” risk of regional escalation and recognized that it should be avoided through cooperation with countries in the region, especially Egypt.

For her part, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen stressed that Israel is a republic under attack by a terrorist organization and added that it was recognized by everyone that Hamas is harming the Palestinian people and has caused a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The Commission President stressed that humanitarian aid must reach the Gaza Strip “quickly” and “seamlessly”, noting that 56 tonnes of EU aid has already been delivered to Gaza and that more aircraft are expected to arrive in the coming days with European aid to Egypt. He also recalled that the Commission has tripled humanitarian aid for Gaza to 75 million euros and reiterated that “there is no contradiction” between the show of solidarity with Israel and the effort being made to reach humanitarian aid to the civilian population of Gaza .

Turning to the revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027, Charles Michel announced that the European Council had agreed to proceed with its work, with a view to reaching a comprehensive agreement by the end of the year.

Many leaders have made it clear that the main priority is to support Ukraine with another 50 billion euros, Ursula von der Leyen pointed out for her part, while as she said, the immediate next priorities are to secure additional resources for migration management and for the prevention and treatment of natural disasters through the solidarity fund.