EU struggles to get message straight on Israel-Hamas war

EU leaders on Tuesday struggled to bridge their often contradictory messaging on the Israel-Hamas conflict, with warnings that Russia seeks to profit from rifts caused by the war.

But in a sign of the bloc's divergences, officials said Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban — who met Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Beijing on Tuesday — skipped the talks.

Officials in Brussels have been at loggerheads with each other and member states over the bitterly divisive issues that have long split opinion in the bloc.

While there has been widespread condemnation of the slaughter by Hamas of Israelis, there have been disagreements over calls to rein in retaliatory strikes on Gaza and maintaining aid to the Palestinians.

A major point of ire for some capitals has been perceptions that European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen has overstepped her remit with her unflinching backing for Israel.

European Council President Charles Michel said leaders had sought to ensure "maximum coordination" between their countries and Brussels at an emergency videoconference.

"It's a conflict which is generating a lot of fragmentation, of divisions, of polarisation amongst our people, amongst our societies," Michel told a press conference.

"That's why we need also to cooperate at European Union level to try to defuse the tensions."

'No contradiction' 

Michel decried Israel's "total siege" of Gaza and any strikes on humanitarian infrastructure as not in line with international law.

He expressed his "emotion" after a deadly strike on a key hospital in the region.

Von der Leyen, who heads the EU's executive arm, said it was "essential" Israel provided drinking water to Gaza.

But she delivered a far more full-throated defence of Israel's actions after visiting sites attacked by Hamas on a trip last week.

"There is no contradiction in standing with Israel in solidarity and acting for the humanitarian needs for the Palestinians," she said.

Both EU leaders warned over the threat of Russia using the Israel-Gaza conflict to weaken the West as Moscow fights it own war on Ukraine.

"Russia will try and has already started to try to exploit this situation to feed a narrative against the European Union, against the partners of the European Union," Michel said.

"Let's not fall into this trap. Let's remain attached to our principles, our values, the respect for human rights and respect for dignity of people."

Michel said the bloc needed to work on a "broad partnership" with key regional player Egypt as global powers scramble to try to stop a broader conflict engulfing the Middle East.

'Troubling moment'

EU leaders participating in the talks echoed the need for greater unity.

"At this deeply troubling moment, it's vital for the leaders of the European Union to set out our common position," Irish premier Leo Varadkar wrote on social media.

The videoconference — coming a week before leaders are to meet in person at a regular Brussels summit — followed criticism oversteps taken by von der Leyen on the notoriously divisive subject.

Von der Leyen, who has cultivated a profile as the face of the European Union, last Friday flew to Israel to tell its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Europe backed Israel's right to defend itself.

But that message was delivered without the caution being voiced by other Western leaders — and by the EU's own top foreign policy official Josep Borrell — that any Israeli action must abide by international humanitarian law.

Several EU governments bristled at von der Leyen taking it upon herself to wade into foreign policy matters, which are decided by member countries, without prior consultation, and straying from their national positions.

That followed a furore after top EU official Oliver Varhelyi went it alone to announce the disbursement of EU development aid to Palestinians had been frozen because of Hamas's bloody attack in Israel launched October 7.

The commission later corrected that to say it will see if payments for development projects in Palestinian territories "need to be adjusted" but that humanitarian aid was not affected.

Von der Leyen, too, after running into flak for her declarations in Israel, announced after her return that the commission would triple its humanitarian aid to Palestinians to 75 million euros ($79 million).

The resulting impression left by these individual forays and U-turns is that the EU's stance on the conflict is chaotic and not worthy of a bloc that wants to project an image of geopolitical heft, EU lawmakers and Brussels observers say.

Hamas sent fighters through the Gaza Strip's heavily militarised border, killing more than 1,400 people. They also took nearly 200 hostages.

Israel has been relentlessly bombing Gaza in response, killing over 3,000 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory.