TEHRAN, Oct. 18 (MNA) – European Council President Charles Michel admitted that the complete blockage of the Gaza Strip by Israel violates international humanitarian law.

"When you cut the basic infrastructure, when you cut access to water, when you cut electricity, if you do not allow food to be delivered, this is not in line with the international law," Michel told reporters in Brussels after the extraordinary video conference of the European Council on the situation in the Middle East.

According to Sputnik, the European Council president said that the European Union is working with countries in the Middle East to organize the evacuation of foreign nationals from the Gaza Strip and get humanitarian access to the conflict area. 

The EU heads of state or government instructed their foreign ministers and ambassadors to strengthen coordination in the West Asia and establish monitoring of the situation to maintain unity on this topic, the European Council president said.

They also agreed to strengthen cooperation between the law enforcement agencies of the member states to prevent increased security threats across Europe due to the conflict, he added.

In addition, the EU leaders reiterated their call on the Palestinian movement Hamas to release all the prisoners and on Israel to respect humanitarian law, Michel said. 

On October 7, the Palestinian combatants launched a surprise operation, dubbed Al-Aqsa Storm, outside Gaza after Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in recent days and a record number of Palestinians were killed by Israel in recent months.

The Zionist regime responded by pounding the besieged Gaza Strip after formally declaring war against the Palestinian Hamas group.

AMK/PR