JJP lobbies the EU on Israel’s continuing violations of the Gaza ceasefire

On 13 November 2025, JJP wrote to the Ambassadors of all the EU member states about Israel’s repeated violations of the Gaza ceasefire. We said it is now clear that Israel intends to sabotage the ceasefire. We therefore urged the government to vote to suspend the free trade and other parts of the EU-Israel Association Agreement at the next meeting of the Council of Ministers.

Our letter is below

His Excellency, ……………. 13 November 2025

Ambassador, Embassy of…………………..

Dear Ambassador …………

We are writing to you about Israel’s repeated violations of the Gaza ceasefire.

Israel started trying to sabotage the plan within a week of it being announced.

At first it refused to reopen the Rafah Crossing and limited entry of aid. It said that was retaliation for Hamas not delivering the bodies of all the deceased hostages, yet the extreme difficulty of finding and extracting bodies in the rubble Israel has created was well understood. That is why the timeline in the plan for delivery of the bodies was extended from 48 to 72 hours, and subsequently modified again to require “sharing, within the 72 hours, all the information it obtained relating to any remaining deceased hostages” “through an “information-sharing mechanism.”¹

Subsequently, it has resumed bombing and artillery shelling, supposedly because Hamas fighters fired at Israeli soldiers while the soldiers were dismantling Hamas tunnels, or as Defence Minister Katz put it, “dismantle(ing) terrorist infrastructure”. However, dismantling the tunnels is an aggressive military activity even though it does not involve use of weapons. It is precluded by a good faith reading of the first three words of the crucial sentence of the ceasefire agreement, which states, ”All military operations, including aerial and artillery bombardment and targeting operations, will be suspended.”¹ It is a provocation.

There is also another possible motive for the Israeli attempt to dismantle tunnels. About 10 days ago, it emerged that about 200 Hamas fighters are trapped in tunnels behind the “Yellow Line”. Perhaps Israel was trying to kill them by collapsing the tunnels, thereby simultaneously sabotaging the ceasefire and killing more Hamas fighters. That it would be breaking the letter of the agreement would not appear to trouble the Israeli government. Israel is under pressure by the US to grant the fighters safe passage into the Hamas-controlled part of Gaza in return for disarming, but is resisting the pressure.

The resumed attacks have killed about 250 Palestinians and wounded more than 600 since the ceasefire took effect on 10 October. Despite Israel’s claim that it carries out “precise” strikes against “terrorist infrastructure”, most of the victims have been civilians, as always. The bombing and shelling are unconscionable and they must be stopped.

We believe it is now clear that Israel intends to sabotage the ceasefire. That is in keeping with its assassination of Ismail Haniyah, the moderate Hamas leader who was negotiating a previous ceasefire attempt, on 31 July 2024, and its attempted assassination of the current Hamas ceasefire negotiators on 9 September. It is futile for the EU to wait for this Israeli government to start acting in good faith. It did not do so in July’s “verbal agreement” with High Commissioner Kallas and there is no reason to think it will do so now.

We therefore urge your government to vote to suspend the free trade and other parts of the EU-Israel Association Agreement at the next meeting of the Council of Ministers .

Arthur Goodman,

Parliamentary and Diplomatic Officer

1. https://www.timesofisrael.com/full-text-of-oct-9-israel-hamas-deal-on-trumps-plan-for-comprehensive-end-to-gaza-war/