Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys said Tuesday that Europe may need to reassess its relations with Israel, as the country’s military has launched a ground offensive in Gaza Strip and the UN has concluded its actions in the Palestinian territories amount to genocide.
“Our available tools have not convinced Israel to resolve the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. Our available tools have not convinced Israel to stop the crimes being committed in the West Bank,” Budrys told lawmakers during a Liberal Movement parliamentary group meeting.
“It is clear that from Europe’s side, there will be a review of what we are doing and how we should continue our dialogue with Israel,” he added.
Budrys spoke hours after the Israeli military launched a ground offensive in Gaza City. The escalation came as UN investigators accused Israel of committing genocide in Palestinian territories and charged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials with incitement.
Budrys stressed that despite strong negative sentiment in Europe toward Israel, diplomatic channels should not be abandoned.
“All forms of cooperation between Israel and the European Union that we have built over so many years cannot simply be erased, because in today’s situation, that would likely mean that some elements would be erased irreversibly,” Budrys said.
Some European countries are expected to formally recognise the State of Palestine during a UN meeting in New York this week.
Until early September, when European Commission Vice President Teresa Ribera called the Gaza war a genocide, senior EU officials had avoided using the term to describe Israel’s actions.
The EU has struggled to forge a unified position on Gaza, with deep divisions between member states pushing for measures against Israel and those backing the country.
Israel’s military crackdown in Gaza began after Hamas launched a deadly October 7, 2023, attack that killed 1,219 people in Israel, mostly civilians. Since then, at least 64,905 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, figures that the UN considers credible.
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