Ilayda Cakirtekin
26 August 2025•Update: 26 August 2025
ISTANBUL
More than 200 former EU ambassadors and senior officials accused Brussels on Tuesday of failing to act on Gaza, signing a joint letter urging the bloc to ramp up pressure on Israel to end its “brutal war” and occupation.
"We express our profound disappointment that, in response to the deteriorating situation in Gaza, no substantive measures have been taken by the EU to pressure Israel to end its brutal war, to resume vital humanitarian assistance by mainstream providers, and to dismantle its illegal occupation of both Gaza and the West Bank," signatories wrote in the letter seen by Irish broadcaster RTE News.
They warned that if the EU fails to take “an effective stand,” action will be left to individual member states or “groups of like-minded countries,” which would lack the “full force of EU-wide collective action.”
The officials also expressed “dismay” that, in the four weeks since their previous letter – signed by 58 former EU ambassadors – no cease-fire has been agreed in Gaza. Instead, they noted, Israel has begun implementing plans to empty Gaza City.
The letter condemned Israeli government plans to expand illegal settlements in East Jerusalem, calling it an “openly declared aim … to sabotage the longstanding two-state solution, backed by the vast majority of UN member states and the EU.”
"If this was not bad enough, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) confirmed on 22 August that a man-made famine now exists in these same areas of Gaza, with half a million people there facing starvation, destitution and death," it added.
The letter was addressed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Antonio Costa, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, as well as the leaders and foreign ministers of the 27 member states.
