European Commission Vice-President Teresa Ribera said on Monday that Israel's military operations in Gaza constitute genocide, Reuters reported. She became the first member of the European Commission to make such an accusation, BTA reports.
“The genocide in Gaza reveals Europe's inability to act and speak with one voice, even as protests in European cities grow and 14 UN Security Council members call for an immediate ceasefire,“ Ribera said during a ceremony at the University of Political Sciences in Paris.
The Spanish socialist, responsible for climate and antitrust policies, is the second-ranking EC representative after President Ursula von der Leyen. She does not have a foreign policy portfolio, but her comments were harsher than previous statements in which the famine, displacement and killings in Gaza were described as "very similar" to genocide.
Israel has categorically rejected the accusations. The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said Ribera's claims were "baseless" and accused her of "becoming a conduit for Hamas propaganda."
The European Commission has previously accused Israel of human rights violations in Gaza, but has stopped short of using the term "genocide." Meanwhile, South Africa filed a lawsuit against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, alleging genocide - a claim that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called "outrageous".