EU foreign ministers to discuss Palestine-Israel escalation

BRUSSELS

Foreign ministers of EU countries will meet on Tuesday to discuss Palestine-Israel escalation as “unacceptable number of civilian casualties” increase, the bloc’s top diplomat said on Sunday.

“In view of the ongoing escalation between Israel and Palestine and the unacceptable number of civilian casualties, I am convening an extraordinary VTC of the EU Foreign Ministers on Tuesday,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell wrote on Twitter.

“We will coordinate and discuss how the EU can best contribute to end the current violence."

Tensions have been running high in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem and at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Damascus Gate since the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan as Israeli forces and settlers assaulted Palestinians.

The tensions moved from East Jerusalem to Gaza after Palestinian resistance groups there vowed to retaliate.

Death toll in Israeli attacks, including airstrikes since May 10 has risen to 181, including 52 children, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.