Strasbourg, France — EU lawmakers on Thursday called to sanction two “extremist” Israeli ministers and curb trade ties over the war in Gaza, backing up a push from European Commission boss Ursula von der Leyen.
The EU chief said Wednesday in her keynote annual address to the European Parliament that she would propose those steps — putting the ball in the court of the bloc’s member states.
But it will be very difficult to get the measures through given deep divisions between the European Union’s 27 countries over Israel’s war in Gaza.
The European Parliament said it had voted a non-binding resolution that “endorses the Commission president’s decision to suspend EU bilateral support to Israel, and to partially suspend the EU-Israel agreement as regards trade”.
It said it also “calls for sanctions” on Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
The EU has faced increasing criticism for failing to act more strongly over the situation in Gaza.
Israel has been waging offensive operations in Gaza since October 2023, following the deadly attack launched from there by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas that resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.
The UN has declared famine in parts of Gaza, which Israel contests.
