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.
Josep Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief, came before journalists just after news broke from Lebanon of at least eight people killed and 2,750 others wounded by exploding pagers across the country, including members of the militant group Hezbollah. Suspicion immediately fell on Israel, which earlier Tuesday stressed that halting Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel's north to allow residents to return to their homes was now an official war goal.
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.
“Certainly there is the possibility of the war spilling over to Lebanon,” Borrell said.
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.
Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage. The Israeli military operation has killed over 41,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Meanwhile, Israel has launched repeated, dayslong operations in the West Bank, which the Palestinians also hope will form a part of a future state.
“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.”
He added: “The trouble is not a matter of waiting for tomorrow. Tomorrow is already too late.”
Meanwhile, Borrell stressed that attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels on shipping in the Red Sea also threatened both economies and the environment. He brought up the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion, which carries 1 million barrels of oil and has been burning for weeks after a series of Houthi attacks.
An EU naval mission called Operation Aspides just towed the Sounion away from Yemen so salvagers can attempt to offload the crude on board as the vessel remains on fire. Borrell stressed the mission would remain “defensive” and wouldn't attack Houthi positions, even if they come under fire.
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.
“Just before the war in Gaza, the prospect were good for the situation in Yemen,” he added, referring to peace talks to end a yearslong Saudi-led war sparked by the rebels seizing the capital, Sanaa.
“Then everything became stalled. And it is still stalled. This is one the examples of the spillover effect of the war" in Gaza, he said.