Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. AFP
“The situation in Gaza is absolutely appalling, and Israel is failing to fulfil its most basic obligations and agreements on emergency aid,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in a post on X.
“Sweden therefore demands that the EU freeze the trade section of the association agreement as soon as possible,” he added, urging Israel to allow “unhindered humanitarian aid into Gaza.”
Kristersson’s remarks follow a similar statement by the Netherlands earlier this week.
Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said the Netherlands would push to suspend the trade element of the EU-Israel Association Agreement if Israel fails to meet its humanitarian obligations.
The EU-Israel Association Agreement governs trade and political relations between the two sides. The EU is Israel’s largest trading partner, accounting for nearly a third of its global trade, according to EU data.
Israel imposed a full blockade on Gaza on 2 March, later permitting limited aid airdrops and a small number of trucks through land crossings. According to Gaza's health ministry, Israel’s war on Gaza—launched in October 2023—has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians and pushed the territory’s population of over two million into famine.
UN agencies and humanitarian organisations warn that current aid deliveries remain gravely insufficient. They have called on Israel to lift the blockade and allow unrestricted humanitarian access to a population deliberately starved into famine.
At the end of June, the EU’s diplomatic service presented a report to member states that found strong “indications” Israel may have breached its human rights obligations under the agreement. Despite the findings, EU member states have yet to take formal action.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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