DUBAI, United Arab Emirates—The European Union’s top diplomat warned Tuesday that every day that passes without a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war risks the lives of the hostages held by the militants and of those in the Gaza Strip as well as a regional war breaking out.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, speaks during a press conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024.
Borrell said he would seek more information from Beirut, where he just traveled from, but acknowledged it could escalate the already-boiling tensions in the region.Borrell, when asked repeatedly about when he hoped a cease-fire could be reached, insisted he couldn’t offer a time. Months of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas has not seen any major hostage release, while the Gaza Strip has been decimated by an Israeli offensive.
“President Biden announced a plan for a cease-fire. Everybody was expecting it to be agreed and quickly,” Borrell said. “I cannot foresee what can happen in the next days or weeks. The only thing I can say is that all actors involved have to continue pressure on both parties to reach this agreement.”Meanwhile, Borrell stressed that attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on shipping in the Red Sea also threatened both economies and the environment.
The Houthi campaign is “not against Israel, it’s against the freedom of navigation and about the economy of Egypt,” Borrell said, referencing the slowdown in traffic through the Suez Canal, a key source of hard currency for Cairo.
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