EU foreign policy chief compares Gaza destruction with German cities in WWII
The European Union's foreign policy chief has compared the scale of destruction across Gaza to damage to German cities in World War II. Josep Borrell said that an assessment by the World Bank and the United Nations put the cost of rebuilding Gaza's infrastructure at $90 billion (€84 billion).  “We can say that more than 60% of the physical infrastructure has been damaged and 35% fully destroyed,” he said. He was speaking during a a plenary session of the EU Parliament on the bloc's response to the killing of humanitarian aid workers, journalists and civilians by the Israel Defence Forces. He opened the session by saying more than 240 aid workers had been killed. "We have to repeat once again that Israel must respect international law,” he said, adding that Israel must “ensure the protection of all civilians and all humanitarian workers”. Meanwhile, the commissioner general of the UN Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, said attacks on its reputation were intended to strip Palestinians of refugee status. He made those remarks a day after former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna submitted her report from an investigation into UNRWA over allegations from Israel that some of the agency's staff had assisted Hamas with the October 7 attacks on Israel. Those claims prompted at least 15 countries to suspend funding. “I hope that with this report and the measure we will be putting in place, the last group of donors will get the necessary confidence to come back as a donor and partner of the agency,” Philippe Lazzarini said. Met by protests German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier's second day of a three-day visit to Turkey was marked by more pro-Palestine protests. The Gaza Solidarity Platform marched past the German consulate in Istanbul to denounce Berlin's support for Israel in the Gaza conflict. “Germany provides the most weapons to Israel after US, and we are here today to protest once again this inhumane massacre committed by Germany on Gaza,” said protester Zehra Turkmen. The Berlin-based investigatory group Forensis says that between 2003-2023, Germany approved almost €3.3 billion in arms export licenses to Israel. That military support has become increasingly unpopular with multiple legal cases filed against the government in a bid to get it dropped.
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