Relations between Israel and the European Union have become even more fraught after the bloc found that Israel’s actions in Gaza, including the blockade of aid to the enclave, may have violated human rights obligations.
A review by the European Union’s diplomatic service investigated whether Israel had violated a provision in a treaty that came into force in 2000 and underpins relations between the two sides. Critics of Israel have called for the bloc to suspend the treaty, accusing the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of violating the rights of Palestinians en masse. Israel has rejected the accusations.
The review referred to a number of issues that could have constituted a breach of Israel’s obligations. Those included Israeli restrictions of essential goods and food into Gaza, attacks that the report said had caused a “significant number of casualties,” and military strikes on hospitals and medical facilities.
Under the terms of the treaty, the European Union and Israel agreed that their relationship “would be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles.”
European Union member states are sharply divided on Israel, meaning that a major shift in policy may be hard to pass. But the report’s conclusions underscored growing frustrations, including among some of Israel’s closest allies, over the handling of the war in Gaza.
Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, was expected to present the findings of the review to a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday. The conclusions from the review were circulated among member states on Friday.
Israel strongly rejected the findings. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a response to the European Union, shared with The Times, that the review was “a complete moral and methodological failure,” and pointed out that it “opens with an admission that it lacks the ability to verify its own statements.”
Israeli officials defended the restrictions on aid as security measures intended to prevent Hamas from smuggling weapons or diverting aid supplies. The United Nations and other international aid agencies have criticized some of the measures as a form of collective punishment, and they say that Israel has not provided evidence that Hamas systematically diverted international aid.
The back-and-forth underscored how tense relations between the European Union and Israel have become. The situation has become more complicated after Israel launched a major assault on Iran last week, one that now involves the United States. Israel and the United States say the military attack was intended to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb. Iran says that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only, and has denied building a weapon.
E.U. officials have spoken about the conflict with Iran cautiously. Some have spoken more positively about the Israeli and American attacks, while others have held off. Many have urged a return to diplomacy to resolve the crisis.
“Everybody agrees that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon,” Ms. Kallas said on Monday as she headed into the foreign ministers’ meeting, before explaining that officials would talk both about Iran and about the report on Israel.
“And then, of course, the discussion is, what more can we do?” Ms. Kallas said of the Israel review.
Finding Israel in violation of its human rights obligations under its agreement with the European Union would be symbolically important, but it is not clear what it would mean in practical terms. Imposing sanctions, for instance, would require unanimity among member states — which is unlikely to be reached. The prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, for example, is an ally of Mr. Netanyahu and would almost certainly not agree to impose restrictions on Israel.
The review has also been overshadowed by events in Iran. Some European officials and diplomats have said that the conflict with Tehran should not distract from what is happening in Gaza, but the combination of events has left Brussels struggling to agree a unified stance toward Israel.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, announced on Sunday that officials would hold a special meeting on Wednesday to discuss the “escalating situation in the Middle East and its effects on Europe.”
Jeanna Smialek is the Brussels bureau chief for The Times.
Aaron Boxerman is a Times reporter covering Israel and Gaza. He is based in Jerusalem.
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