Israel-Hamas: EU debates how to handle rising security challenges as Israel-Hamas war provokes new concerns

European Union inside ministers met Thursday to debate handle the affect of the conflict between Israel and Hamas on the bloc, after a firebomb assault on a Berlin synagogue and killings in Belgium and France by suspected Islamist extremists. Sweden hosted a gathering of ministers from eight nations, amongst them Germany, Belgium and France, centered on deal with incidents the place folks burn the Muslim holy ebook, the Quran.

Prosecutors try to determine whether or not that was a key motive for a Tunisian man who shot three Swedes in Brussels on Monday, killing two of them, forward of a Belgium-Sweden soccer match within the capital.

Whereas the Quran burnings will not be instantly linked to the battle between Israel and Hamas, they’re an indication of rising tensions between non secular and different communities in Europe.

The conflict that started Oct 7 has change into the deadliest of 5 Gaza wars for each side. The Hamas-run Gaza Well being Ministry stated Wednesday that 3,478 Palestinians have been killed and greater than 12,000 injured previously 11 days.

Greater than 1,400 folks in Israel have been killed, and not less than 199 others, together with youngsters, have been captured by Hamas and brought into Gaza, based on Israeli authorities.

“Now we have to deal with a number of impacts from the persevering with disaster within the Center East, and a part of that is to evaluate all attainable penalties for us within the European Union,” European Fee Vice-President Margaritis Schinas stated. “This entails the safety of our Jewish communities, but additionally the safety towards a generalized local weather of Islamophobia that has no place in our society,” he instructed reporters in Luxembourg, the place the assembly is going down. Professional-Palestinian rallies have been held in a number of European cities because the conflict. France has banned them. Germany has additionally promised to take harder motion towards Hamas, which is already on the EU’s checklist of terrorist organisations.

After assailants threw two Molotov cocktails on the Berlin synagogue on Wednesday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated that “we’ll by no means settle for when assaults are carried out towards Jewish establishments.”

In France, the Palace of Versailles – a significant vacationer attraction – and three airports have been evacuated for safety causes and briefly closed Wednesday. The incidents have been the newest in a spate of evacuations previously 5 days round France.

They adopted the killing of a instructor within the northern metropolis of Arras on Friday by a suspected Islamist extremist.