58 ex-EU ambassadors accuse Israel of genocide in Gaza, warn bloc risks complicity in war crimes

EU High Representative Kaja Kallas at the European Union headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, May 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

By Bashir Mbuthia
Tuesday, August 5, 2025

While reaffirming their condemnation of Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, the ambassadors said the scale and persistence of Israel's response have crossed all boundaries of humanitarian law.

58 former ambassadors of the European Union (EU) have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, warning that the EU's continued failure to act risks making it complicit in war crimes.

In a strongly worded open letter addressed to top EU institutions and national leaders, the former diplomats condemned Israel's ongoing military campaign in Gaza and the West Bank, describing it as a systematic campaign of "brutalisation, dehumanisation, and displacement".

While reaffirming their condemnation of Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, the ambassadors said the scale and persistence of Israel's response have crossed all boundaries of humanitarian law.

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"We are witnessing the horrifying spectacle of Israel carrying out, daily, atrocity crimes against the Palestinian people-above all in Gaza, but also in the occupied West Bank, amounting to a systematic campaign of brutalisation, dehumanisation, and displacement," the statement reads.

Further, the former envoys criticised the EU and most of its member states for failing to respond meaningfully to the atrocities, warning that this inaction jeopardises the bloc's global credibility.

"As former ambassadors of the EU, we dedicated our professional lives to upholding and promoting core European values and international law, building the reputation of the European Union and defending the interests of its peoples," the ex-ambassadors said.

"Those interests and that reputation are now in serious jeopardy as a consequence of EU inaction."

They also accused Israel of deliberately obstructing humanitarian aid, warning that replacing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) with politicised, militarised aid operations violates international principles.

The former ambassadors further expressed concern that recent humanitarian measures, reportedly negotiated between EU High Representative Kaja Kallas and Israeli authorities, have not been confirmed by Israel, amid continuous Israeli assaults.

"To the contrary, since Kallas' announcement, hundreds of men, children and women have been killed by Israeli soldiers while desperately seeking food and water for their families," they said.

"This includes an alarming number of civilian deaths caused by Israeli military shooting at Zikim, one of the key border crossing points, that we understand formed part of the humanitarian EU agreement with Israel."

The ambassadors similarly condemned Israel's establishment of concentration zones and the creation of a "migration administration" to facilitate the permanent removal of Palestinians from Gaza, steps they said were "calculated moves towards ethnic cleansing."

The statement further accused violent Israeli settlers, backed by the military, of carrying out systematic attacks in the West Bank, including murder, destruction of property, and poisoning of water sources, adding that the acts are not isolated but part of a state-driven annexation agenda.

Referring to findings by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the ambassadors added that Israel's prolonged occupation and conduct in Gaza may amount not just to genocide but also to apartheid and segregation, echoing concerns raised by several humanitarian organisations and international observers.

According to the ambassadors, the EU should take urgent action, including suspending all arms and dual-use exports to Israel, banning trade with illegal Israeli settlements and ending all commercial and investment ties with companies that operate in those territories.

Similarly, the ambassadors want the EU to suspend preferential commercial arrangements with Israel under the Association Agreement; cancel Israel's participation in EU research, academic, and technology programmes.

They also want the EU to impose targeted sanctions on Israeli ministers, military commanders and settlers responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Additionally, the ambassadors urged the EU to support international and national judicial mechanisms such as the International Criminal Court (ICC), to provide political, legal, and financial assistance to Palestinian victims and to formally recognise Palestine as a state.

"We welcome the recent condemnation of Israel's actions in Gaza and the West Bank by 28 Foreign Ministers, including those of 20 EU Member States, but words are not enough," they said.

"We call urgently on all EU leaders and governments, especially those who prevented the Foreign Affairs Council, 15 July, from acting against Israel's egregious humanitarian and human rights violations, to take all necessary and feasible measures under international, European, and national law to bring these atrocities to an end."