As EU foreign ministers convene to discuss the Middle East, ActionAid has warned that there is no ceasefire for Palestinians in Gaza, only what it describes as the continuation of genocide under diplomatic cover. The organisation urged EU leaders to stop using diplomatic language to obscure realities on the ground and to acknowledge that large-scale atrocities against Palestinians have not ended and continue with impunity.
ActionAid stated that Palestinians in Gaza continue to face daily killings, starvation, and forced displacement, while humanitarian aid remains deliberately obstructed. Displaced people are reportedly being attacked in shelters or while attempting to return home, as new systems of control advance under the guise of stabilisation. The organisation also highlighted plans to expand restricted zones deeper into Palestinian territory alongside the ongoing destruction of homes and infrastructure across the Gaza Strip.
According to ActionAid Palestine Country Director Jamil Sawalmeh, Israeli forces have killed Palestinians in Gaza almost every day since October 2025, including at least 100 children. He stressed that claims of a transition toward peace are disconnected from reality, arguing that genocide is continuing amid diplomatic negotiations and reconstruction discussions that fail to address the immediate suffering of civilians living among rubble and without basic protection.
In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Palestinians are described as living under constant threat from state-backed settler violence and unlawful practices by Israeli forces. These include attacks on homes and livelihoods, punitive demolitions, movement restrictions, and the destruction of refugee camps, particularly in the northern West Bank. Recent attacks in southern communities have reportedly forced residents to flee, deepening displacement, fragmentation, and control across the territory.
ActionAid criticised the European Union for debating sanctions and then retreating from them, while Israeli authorities continue actions the organisation says violate international law. It argued that EU Member States that have recognised Palestinian sovereignty carry legal obligations that extend beyond condemnation and require concrete measures to prevent further crimes. The organisation warned that continued inaction risks EU complicity in ongoing atrocities.
The organisation further stated that measures such as aid obstruction, forced displacement, surveillance, and the destruction of livelihoods collectively aim to erase Palestinian life. It cautioned that reconstruction efforts pursued without justice, return, accountability, and Palestinian ownership risk entrenching systems of dispossession and ethnic cleansing rather than addressing their root causes.
ActionAid concluded by urging EU leaders to take decisive political, legal, and economic action in line with international law, warning that there is no humanitarian or diplomatic solution to genocide. It called on EU leadership to uphold international legal obligations, stressing that failure to act would have lasting historical consequences.
