There were tears of joy in Tel Aviv on Monday as Israeli hostages finally returned home after 737 days in captivity.
Meanwhile in Gaza, Hamas gunfire continued to ring out, reportedly targeted at so-called “collaborators and traitors”—not, of course, for the first time. This could raise serious questions about the ongoing peace plan, particularly with regard to the disarmament of the terror group.
Yet Brussels’ main concern appears predictably still to be Israel.
Indeed, despite Israeli figures telling the European Union on Monday that if it wants to be involved in making peace last in the Middle East, it must scrap its penalties against Israel, the bloc is resiting easing pressure just yet.
One Brussels official toldPolitico that “our pressure is still important,” adding:
If we want to lift all the pressure, then Israel needs to deliver.
European Commissioner for Equality Hadja Lahbib also indicated in a post on social media what sorts of steps the EU would like to see, saying that “aid must urgently reach Palestinians at scale in Gaza and the upcoming peace summit in Egypt must deliver lasting political solutions.”
Much less has been said—not just in Brussels but also by the international press—about killings that are still taking place in Gaza.
Members of Hamas’ internal security forces have been pictured walking the streets of Gaza and there have been a number of reports of clashes with opposition ‘clans.’ One message posted in a Hamas-affiliated Telegram channel on Sunday said:
A number of collaborators and informants were apprehended and arrested in Gaza City, after it was proven that they were involved in spying for the enemy.
A video shared across similar Telegram channels also showed one such ‘collaborator’ being beaten in an unknown location, according to CNN.
Reports of “shootings and executions” across the territory have also been emerging. Reuters, for example, writes:
Later on Monday, a video circulating on social media appeared to show several masked gunmen, some of them wearing green headbands resembling ones worn by Hamas, shooting with machine guns at least seven men after forcing them to kneel in the street. Posts identified the video as filmed in Gaza on Monday. Civilian spectators cheered “Allah Akbar,” or God is Great, and called those killed “collaborators.”
Some publications described this as Hamas’ attempt to reassert control.
One wonders how much of this will be raised when EU leaders gather for a summit on events in the Middle East on October 23rd.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
