Barcelona, Spain: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has called for utilizing the humanitarian pause in Gaza as a path to a political process to reach a lasting solution to the conflict in the Middle East.
Addressing the Union for the Mediterranean meeting in Barcelona today, Baerbock said that Israelis cannot live in security unless the Palestinians enjoy the same.
Baerbock attributed Israel's absence from the meeting to fear of being exposed to what she describes as 'one-sided hostility', stressing that this step demonstrates the depth of the divisions and the need for everyone to 'talk to each other'.
27 foreign ministers from the 43-nation bloc in addition to European Union external relations official Josep Borrell are taking part in the meeting.
There is a state of anticipation over whether or not the humanitarian pause in Gaza between Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) will be extended. Mediated by the State of Qatar, the Arab Republic of Egypt, and the United States of America, the pause is supposed to end today.
This is the first pause of its kind since the start of the violent Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip on October 7. The aggression has so far killed more than 15,000 Palestinians, including 6,150 children and more than 4,000 women, and wounded more than 36,000.
