Asked whether an Israeli attack on the southern Gaza city would constitute a “red line” and lead to EU sanctions against Israel, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said: “I never draw red lines, but I think it would completely unacceptable if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were to invade,” Politico reports.
Von der Leyen also said that if Israel invades Rafah, the Commission “will talk to our member states and act accordingly”.
The Commission President, who is running for a second term, made the remarks at a debate co-organized by Politico in Maastricht.
In response to a question about how he proposes to end the war in Gaza, von der Leyen said he has always supported Israel’s right to defend itself, while calling on Israeli leaders to act within the limits of humanitarian and international law.
Von der Leyen said he visited Rafah and found it “unbearable” and “unacceptable” how many “innocent civilians” and “especially children” were dying.
She called for a ceasefire, the release of hostages held by Hamas and a two-state solution.
“This is the only solution that will bring peace to the region,” she said.
Israel is threatening to invade Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, home to over half of Gaza’s population.
And US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Monday called on Hamas to accept Israel’s cease-fire offer as a last chance for a deal before the Rafah invasion begins.
President Joe Biden urged Netanyahu in a phone call on Sunday not to launch the operation in the territory.
At the Maastricht debate, Anders Vistisen, from the far-right group Identity and Democracy, avoided the subject of sanctions and instead said the EU’s “primary responsibility” was to “combat the rise in anti-Semitism that we are witnessing across the European continent as a result of this conflict”.
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