Israeli troops fired warning pictures throughout overseas diplomats’ go to to the occupied West Bank on Wednesday (May 21, 2025), the army mentioned, drawing condemnation as pressure mounted on Israel to permit assist into war-battered Gaza.
EU Foreign Policy chief Kaja Kallas urged Israel to carry accountable these liable for the taking pictures close to town of Jenin, a stronghold of Palestinian armed teams and a frequent goal of Israeli raids.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry accused Israel of getting “deliberately targeted by live fire an accredited diplomatic delegation”.
The Israeli army mentioned “the delegation deviated from the approved route”, prompting troops to fire “warning shoots” to maintain them away from “an area where they were not authorised to be”.
In an announcement, the army mentioned it “regrets the inconvenience caused” by the taking pictures, which resulted in no accidents.
The incident got here as worldwide pressure mounted on Israel over the battle within the Gaza Strip, the place Palestinians waited desperately for important provides after the easing of a two-month complete assist blockade.
Rescuers within the Palestinian territory, the place Israel has not too long ago intensified its devastating offensive, mentioned in a single day Israeli strikes killed at least 19 folks, together with a week-old child.
‘Unbearable’
Israel mentioned 93 vehicles had entered Gaza on Tuesday however confronted accusations the quantity fell far in need of what was required. The United Nations mentioned the help had been held up.
The world physique on Monday mentioned it had been cleared to ship in assist for the primary time since Israel imposed a complete blockade on March 2 in a transfer resulting in crucial shortages of meals and drugs.
Umm Talal al-Masri, 53, a displaced Palestinian dwelling in an space of Gaza City, described the scenario as “unbearable”.
“No one is distributing anything to us. Everyone is waiting for aid, but we haven’t received anything,” she informed AFP. “We’re grinding lentils and pasta to make some loaves of bread, and we barely manage to prepare one meal a day.”
The Israeli military stepped up its offensive at the weekend, vowing to defeat Gaza’s Hamas rulers, whose October 7, 2023 assault on Israel triggered the battle.
Israel has confronted huge pressure, together with from conventional allies, to halt its intensified offensive and permit assist into Gaza.
Ms. Kallas mentioned on Tuesday that “a strong majority” of overseas ministers from the 27-nation bloc backed the transfer to evaluation its commerce cooperation with Israel.
“The countries see that the situation in Gaza is untenable… and what we want is to unblock the humanitarian aid,” she mentioned.
Sweden mentioned it could press the EU to impose sanctions on Israeli ministers, whereas Britain suspended free-trade negotiations with Israel and summoned the Israeli ambassador.
Pope Leo XIV described the scenario in Gaza as “worrying and painful” and referred to as for “the entry of sufficient humanitarian aid”.
Israel’s overseas ministry has mentioned the EU motion “reflects a total misunderstanding of the complex reality Israel is facing”.
Reckless act
Several European international locations had been fast to sentence the taking pictures incident within the West Bank, with Belgium demanding a “convincing explanation” and Italy saying that “threats against diplomats are unacceptable”.
Ahmad al-Deek, political adviser for the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, mentioned he had been main the delegation.
“We condemn this reckless act by the Israeli army, especially at a time when it had given the diplomatic delegation an impression of the life the Palestinian people are living”, he mentioned.
A European diplomat current in the course of the go to mentioned he heard “repeated shots” coming from inside Jenin refugee camp, which has been largely emptied of its inhabitants since a significant Israeli operation started in January.
“We were doing a visit with the governor of Jenin to the border of the camp to see the destruction,” the diplomat mentioned.
In Gaza, Israel resumed its operations throughout the territory on March 18, ending a two-month ceasefire.
Hamas’s October 2023 assault resulted within the deaths of 1,218 folks in Israel, largely civilians, in keeping with an AFP tally primarily based on official figures.
Militants additionally took 251 hostages, 57 of whom stay in Gaza together with 34 the army says are lifeless.
Gaza’s well being ministry mentioned Tuesday at least 3,509 folks have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the battle’s general toll to 53,655.
Published – May 21, 2025 09:47 pm IST
