The European Parliament adopted for the first time a resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza but conditioned the end of fighting on the release of all the Israelis abducted by Hamas and on the breaking up of Hamas.
An amendment included in the resolution stipulated that all the hostages be “immediately and unconditionally released and [that] the terrorist organization Hamas is dismantled.” The nonbinding resolution was adopted by 312 votes in favor, 131 against and 72 abstentions.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola was one of the first European leaders to arrive to Israel after Oct. 7 on a solidarity visit with President of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen.
On Oct. 19, the European Parliament called for a “humanitarian pause” in the fighting. The lawmakers stressed that a humanitarian pause would allow for aid to enter Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. European parliamentarians did not call at the time for a full-pledged cease-fire as many of them opposed that, siding with Israel on this issue. Initiatives calling for a complete cease-fire failed to garner support, thus were not presented for vote.
The worsening of the humanitarian situation in the Strip, however, changed that. The resolution adopted Thursday on the one side includes condemnation of Hamas and recognition of Israel’s right to protect itself and on the other calls for addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and reaching a cease-fire to stop civilian casualties.
Diplomatic sources told Al-Monitor that over the past few days a fierce battle took place in the Parliament regarding the amendment that was finally added to the draft resolution before it was voted on. The proposal for calling for a cease-fire was pushed by the left factions and the center Renew Europe group. But the right-wing EPP faction insisted on including the two conditions for the cease-fire — the release of the hostages and the dismantlement of Hamas. By the end, EPP had the upper hand, as some center-left MPs, mainly from Germany, sided with including the two conditions.
Israel’s ambassador to the European institutions, Haim Regev, told Al-Monitor that ‘’the Parliament expressed support of the Israeli position, which essentially conditions the cease-fire in seeing our hostages released and the Hamas organization broken up.’’
