European Union leaders are discussing the situation in the Middle East and in particular current developments of the deteriorating situation in the south of Israel and the Gaza Strip, at a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday.
This ''special'' is mainly dedicated to the appointments of the new EU Council President and EU foreign policy chief (the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy) to replace Herman Van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton, but the situation in Ukraine and the Middle East is also high on the agenda of the 28 heads of state or government.
The discussion will take place during a dinner.
In a statement issued last week, the EU has ‘’strongly condemned the indiscriminate fire into Israel by militant groups in the Gaza Strip and also deplored the growing number of civilian casualties caused by Israeli retaliatory fire.’’
The EU called on ‘’all sides to exercise maximum restraint to avoid casualties and re-establish calm’’ and ‘’to do their utmost to achieve an immediate ceasefire.’’
But since the statement was issued, new developments occurred as a ceasefire proposal initiated by Egypt on Monday was accepted by Israel but rejected by Hamas which continued to launch volleys of rocket attacks against Israel prompting the Israeli army to renew its strikes on terror targets in the Gaza Strip.
A senior Israeli military official said Wednesday the likelihood of a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip was “very high,” and that “if you want to efficiently fight terrorism you must be present, boots on the ground.”
Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said that an invasion of Gaza was “definitely an option.”
EU leaders are expected to renew their condemnation of Gaza rocket attacks against Israel and call for a lasting truce.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has proposed that the EU sends observer missions to monitor movements at border crossings between Gaza and Israel.
"Europe... is ready to do things, particularly through what we call EUBAM, which are forces that could monitor movements between Gaza and Israel," he said.
EUBAM is the European Union Border Assistance Mission.
The EU had implemented a similar operation in 2005 at the Rafah crossing point between Gaza and Egypt.
In cooperation with Palestinian and Israeli officials, the mission of 70 European police officers monitored movements of people, goods and vehicles at the Rafah crossing.
But the EUBAM mission was suspended in June 2007 after Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip.
"Arab countries have said they support this, and we would also need the agreement of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council," Fabius said.