Ireland and Spain have requested an EU investigation into whether or not Israel is “complying with its obligations to respect human rights in Gaza,” Spanish President Pedro Sanchez announced on social media on Wednesday.
Sanchez and Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar wrote a letter to the President of the European Commission, asking the Commission to “undertake an urgent review of whether Israel is complying with its obligations, including under the EU/Israel Association Agreement, which makes respect for human rights and democratic principles an essential element of the relationship.”
The leaders told EU chief Ursula von der Leyen that they are “deeply concerned at the deteriorating situation in Israel and Gaza,” especially with the impact the conflict is having on “innocent Palestinians, especially children and women.”
Noting the provisional measures imposed by the International Court of Justice in late January, where it was ordered that Israel must take “all measures” to prevent genocide in Gaza, the leaders called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to prevent “further irreversible harm to the people of Gaza.”
A spokesperson for the European Commission, Arianna Podesta, told CNN that the Commission received the letter on Wednesday morning. “So of course, what we will do now is look into it,” she said.
