On Gaza at breaking point: EU action to combat famine, the urgent need to release hostages and move towards a two-state solution

B100374/2025

European Parliament resolution on Gaza at breaking point: EU action to combat famine, the urgent need to release hostages and move towards a two-state solution

(2025/2852(RSP))

The European Parliament,

–having regard to Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which entered into force in June 2000,

–having regard to its previous resolutions on the situation in Gaza and the Middle East peace process, in particular its resolution of 17 December 2014 on recognition of Palestine statehood,

–having regard to the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of 19 July 2024 on the legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem,

–having regard to the note of the Office of the EU Special Representative for Human Rights of 20 June 2025 on Israel’s compliance with Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement,

–having regard to the inventory of possible follow-up measures for the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (VP/HR) shared with the Member States on 15 July 2025,

–having regard to the conclusions of the UN High-level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, held from 28 to 30 July 2025,

–having regard to Rule 136(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.whereas on 25 August 2025, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report confirmed that a man-made famine was under way in northern Gaza and projected that central and southern Gaza would be experiencing famine by the end of September 2025, with over 132 000 children under five at risk of death from acute malnutrition; whereas this hunger results from the fact that over 6 000 humanitarian trucks have been prevented from entering Gaza, with civilians being shot dead while seeking food;

B.whereas the ICJ, in its Order of 26 January 2024 in the case South Africa v Israel, laid down binding provisional measures requiring Israel to ensure humanitarian access to Gaza; whereas the EU, its Member States and the UN have called repeatedly for unhindered humanitarian access since the blockade began;

C.whereas on 7 October 2023, the terrorist organisation Hamas carried out brutal and indiscriminate attacks against Israel, killing 1 195 Israelis and abducting 251 people, which the EU and the Member States condemned in the strongest possible terms; whereas the terrorist organisation Hamas continues to hold hostages and fire rockets into Israel; whereas Israel has the right to defend itself in line with international law and international humanitarian law;

D.whereas Israel’s military response has killed more than 60 000 Palestinians, displaced nearly two million people, destroyed much of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure – including homes, schools and hospitals – and systematically erased childhood in Gaza, leaving children without access to education, play or protection; whereas it has triggered a man-made humanitarian catastrophe, as hundreds of thousands of people face acute malnutrition, with children and other vulnerable groups being the most affected, and sanitation, health and food systems have completely broken down; whereas in the West Bank, nearly 1 000 people have been killed and settler violence has reached unprecedented levels;

E.whereas 48 hostages remain in captivity in Gaza, 25 of whom are presumed dead; whereas the surviving hostages are being held in horrifying conditions marked by a lack of food, water and medicine, constant threats of violence and degrading treatment, as documented by released hostages and humanitarian organisations;

F.whereas Palestinian children are also being subjected to arbitrary detention and abuse in military custody, compounding a decades-long child rights crisis; whereas the international community has a legal and moral obligation to protect children and ensure accountability for violations of international humanitarian and human rights law;

G.whereas the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls called, in July 2025, for immediate global action to halt the intentional destruction of the lives and bodies of Palestinian women and girls in Gaza; whereas estimates indicate that 67 % of the 60 000 people killed in Gaza were women and girls;

H.whereas on 19 April 2024 and 15 July 2024, the Council adopted restrictive measures under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime against extremist settlers responsible for violence in the West Bank, with the measures including travel bans and asset freezes; whereas several Member States have adopted similar or more extensive restrictive measures;

I.whereas the note of the Office of the EU Special Representative for Human Rights, which relied on assessments by independent international institutions, stated that there were indications that Israel had breached its obligations under Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, citing restrictions on humanitarian aid, indiscriminate attacks on civilians, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, forced displacement, killings of journalists, settlement expansion and a lack of accountability;

J.whereas under Council Common Position 2008/944/CFSP of 8 December 2008 defining common rules governing the control of exports of military technology and equipment, Member States must deny export licences where there is a clear risk that the items to be exported might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law; whereas France and Germany called for restrictions on arms exports to Israel in 2024 and 2025 on this basis;

K.whereas the UN high-level conference of July 2025 on the two-state solution, which was co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, reaffirmed that the two-state solution remains the only viable path to a just and lasting peace; whereas more than 120 speakers called for tangible steps towards the recognition of Palestinian statehood, with Malta pledging recognition, Portugal and Finland considering it, and France and Belgium, alongside other countries worldwide, announcing their intention to recognise Palestinian statehood at the next UN General Assembly;

L.whereas the EU, together with its Member States, is the world’s largest donor of humanitarian aid to Gaza;

M.whereas continued diplomatic outreach by the VP/HR to her Israeli counterpart led to an agreement on humanitarian arrangements to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza;

N.whereas monitoring of the humanitarian arrangements reveals that some progress has been made, including increased access for trucks and fuel, the opening of additional crossing points, the continued operation of the Egyptian and Jordanian routes, and repairs to critical infrastructure; whereas these measures remain insufficient to address the vast humanitarian needs of Gaza’s population;

1.Strongly condemns the obstruction of humanitarian aid to Gaza, which has caused a man-made famine in northern Gaza; deplores the catastrophic impact of this on civilians, particularly children; underlines the urgent need to support a coordinated, impartial, unimpeded and effective humanitarian aid architecture; calls for an immediate and permanent ceasefire;

2.Demands the unimpeded and large-scale provision of humanitarian assistance, particularly food, medical care and psychosocial support for children, and protection to all those in need throughout the Gaza Strip; calls for the opening of all relevant border crossings, and for the mandate and funding of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to be reinstated in full, with strong oversight and accountability; calls for the application of the updated EU Guidelines on Children and Armed Conflict as a framework for action, prioritising the rights, safety and well-being of children;

3.Call on all parties to comply fully with international law, including with regard to the protection of civilians, humanitarian access and the safety of humanitarian personnel, and underscores the importance of holding accountable all those responsible for violations of international law;

4.Calls for the EU to adopt further firm and concrete sanctions against the terrorist organisation Hamas; demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by the terrorist organisation Hamas; calls for the EU and its Member States to enhance their efforts to find and free the hostages; stresses that Hamas’s continued terrorist activity and hostage-taking are unacceptable and must end; reaffirms the need to dismantle the terrorist organisation Hamas and stresses the importance of a legitimate and unified Palestinian leadership that excludes the terrorist organisation;

5.Calls on the Council to adopt targeted sanctions against Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich and other Israeli authorities, settlers and settlers’ associations, who are responsible for inciting or committing egregious crimes under international law throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory; reaffirms Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorist attacks and recognises that Israel remains a strategic EU partner in countering regional terrorism, including threats from the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxies;

6.Stresses that this right cannot justify indiscriminate military action; condemns the repeated violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in Gaza, including mass forcible transfers, which are prohibited except when they are carried out to ensure civilian security or for imperative military reasons; calls on Israel to stop engaging in practices that cause disproportionate civilian harm, the destruction of infrastructure and forced displacement;

7.Urges all Member States to comply with their obligations under the Rome Statute, to enforce all arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) without exception, and to reaffirm their political and financial support for the ICC and the ICJ; recalls that the ICJ’s binding orders must be implemented fully, including with regard to ensuring humanitarian access to Gaza; stresses that accountability for violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law is essential for any sustainable peace; calls on all parties to respect the independence of international judicial institutions; insists that all perpetrators of human rights violations must be held to account;

8.Stresses that the ICJ’s July 2024 advisory opinion creates the need for an urgent and comprehensive reassessment of all instruments, agreements and operational practices between the EU and Israel in order to ensure that the EU is complying fully with its binding international legal obligations;

9.Urges the EU and its Member States to call on the US Government to both rescind the executive order that authorises sanctions targeting ICC officials and those cooperating with the ICC and withdraw sanctions against UN experts and Palestinian NGOs; urges the Commission to activate the blocking statute to protect European operators from the effects of US sanctions and help ensure that the ICC’s work can continue unaffected, and urges the EU and its Member States to take any other diplomatic and practical steps necessary to defend the ICC and those cooperating with it, in line with the Member States’ legally binding commitments to promote the universality and integrity of the Rome Statute;

10.Calls for the trade pillar of the EU-Israel Association Agreement to be suspended on the basis of Articles 2, 25 and 79 of that agreement, thus reinstating tariffs on bilateral trade, until the Israeli authorities stop committing grave violations of international humanitarian and human rights law; urges the adoption of immediate safeguard measures to ensure that EU trade, research and cooperation instruments do not contribute to or legitimise breaches of international humanitarian law and human rights obligations;

11.Urges all Member States to align with the Council Common Position on controls of arms exports and to consistently apply the principles laid down therein; welcomes, in this regard, the recent calls by France and Germany to halt arms exports where there is a clear risk that the exported items will be used to commit war crimes or serious violations of international humanitarian law;

12.Calls for the EU and the international community as a whole to come forward with a concrete action plan and specific timeframe to achieve the only sustainable path forward, the two-state solution, with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security;

13.Calls for the Member States to recognise the State of Palestine provided that two conditions are met, namely that all remaining Israeli hostages must be released immediately and that terrorist groups, including Hamas, must have no role in the future of Gaza; underlines that this is vital for the implementation of the two-state solution;

14.Condemns Israel’s retaliatory practices against Member States that have recognised the State of Palestine or announced their intention to do so, noting that these amount to unjustified diplomatic blackmail, as exemplified by the threat to close the French Consulate in Jerusalem;

15.Stresses that the Palestinian Authority is the only body that can viably take on governance responsibilities in Gaza after the war, with support from the international or Arab community where needed, and calls for it to be granted urgent EU financial support to stabilise its institutions; demands that the Palestinian Authority do everything in its power to fight the terrorist organisation Hamas; calls on Israel to release the tax revenues that it has collected for the Palestinian Authority, which it has been withholding;

16.Calls for the EU to use its full leverage to prevent further obstacles to the two-state solution, in particular by stepping up measures against violent settlers in the West Bank and by ensuring that its approach to settlement products fully complies with the EU’s legal order and international obligations; urges the EU to ban all trade and business with Israel’s illegal settlements;

17.Reiterates that it fully supports the civilian missions that the EU is conducting under the common security and defence policy in the Occupied Palestinian Territories – the European Union Mission for the Support of Palestinian Police and Rule of Law (EUPOL COPPS) in Ramallah and the recently redeployed EU Border Assistance Mission to Rafah – as well as their action in assisting with the reform of the Palestinian Authority’s security and justice sector and integrated border management; recalls that these missions are in a good position to play a broader operational role, on behalf of the EU, in supporting the Palestinian Authority’s state-building and capacity-building efforts; encourages Israel and the Palestinian Authority to maintain full cooperation with both missions;

18.Calls for the EU to develop an EU facility for the reconstruction of Gaza to contribute to the development of long-term stability and security in the region; stresses that this facility must be strictly conditional on the terrorist organisation Hamas having no role in the future of Gaza, and that international and regional stakeholders must be involved in its financing and implementation;

19.Expresses outrage at the killing of 248 journalists and 508 humanitarian workers, as well as the repeated attacks on hospitals and humanitarian convoys; demands independent investigations into the killings and calls for those responsible to be held to account;

20.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Government of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the Secretary-General of the UN and the League of Arab States.