While gathering here this afternoon, in this peaceful place, our minds and thoughts are inevitably with our friends and colleagues, and the people of Palestine, whether in the Gaza Strip, where military operations of an unprecedented scale never stopped and where famine is unfolding, or in the West Bank – from Jenin or Tubas all the way down to Masafayer Yatta – and closer to us in East Jerusalem, in Silwan or Shuafat, where cities are being raided and destroyed, where private houses and community buildings are being demolished, where violence is being perpetrated repeatedly by settlers, where expropriations and displacements of populations have become the new norm, where schools and health centres are being shut down (and even raided), where lives are being destroyed, where hope is being shattered in pieces.

Let me throw back a year ago, when we were already facing the unprecedented difficult and saddening circumstances we are in, when the European Union and other international partners were unanimously calling on all parties for a cease-fire in Gaza and for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages, leading to a permanent end of hostilities. We – unfortunately – have to reiterate this very same call today, after 19 months of war. Today, the EU repeats its urgent call on Israel to lift the blockade on Gaza immediately.

Our message is clear: humanitarian aid must never be politicised or militarised. Aid must reach civilians in need. Voices are speaking louder and louder; it seems that the point of no return was reached. It is indeed high time we come to terms with our hesitations, and that we come close again to the ideals, the values, the universal human rights and fundamental freedoms we hold on to, and that constitute our DNA, as inherited from the EU Founding Fathers I mentioned before. Yet, none withstanding these unprecedented and difficult circumstances, our partnership with the Palestinian people and their institutions entered a new phase of development, depth and maturity – the road to a true partnership.

The EU was quick in putting up an emergency financial package in the summer of 2024, in concertation with the then new government of Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa – a government that showed to be determined, hands on, and eager to tackle the long-awaited administrative, institutional, financial and political reforms. My heartfelt praises, thanks and respect go to the Ministers and their teams, who have worked with us relentlessly in order to achieve this significant outcome.  More recently, on the occasion of the first High Level Political Dialogue between the EU and Palestine, the EU reiterated its unwavering support for the Palestinian People over the next 3 years in the form of a multiannual Comprehensive Support Programme worth up to € 1.6 billion.