Sweden summons Israel envoy, calls for European sanctions
Sweden’s Foreign Ministry has summoned Israel’s ambassador to Stockholm in protest against the lack of humanitarian aid being allowed into Gaza, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said yesterday according to Reuters.
Last week, under growing international pressure, Israeli occupation authorities allowed a trickle of aid into the Palestinian enclave. However, the few hundred trucks carried only a tiny fraction of the food needed by a population of 2.3 million at risk of famine after nearly three months of blockade.
Kristersson told Swedish news agency TT that the European Union should impose sanctions and exert diplomatic pressure on Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.
“We have been incredibly clear about that ourselves and together with many other European countries,” Kristersson said.
“That pressure is now increasing, no doubt, and for very good reasons,” he said.
Israel’s genocidal war has since killed more than 53,900 Palestinians since October 2023, according to Gaza health authorities, and devastated the coastal strip. Aid groups say signs of severe malnutrition are widespread.
Earlier yesterday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said: “To harm the civilian population to such an extent, can no longer be justified as a fight against Hamas terrorism.”
“Frankly speaking, I no longer understand what the goal of the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip is,” Merz said in an interview aired on public television.
Merz explained that he intends to convey this message in a scheduled call later this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Germany must exercise greater restraint than any other country in the world in giving public advice to Israel,” Merz said. “But when borders are crossed, when international humanitarian law is really being violated, the German chancellor must also say something about it.”