News - World: The European Union's foreign policy chief has sounded a serious alarm about the extent of destruction caused across the besieged Gaza Strip as a result of the Israeli regime's genocidal war on the territory.

The situation in Gaza is "catastrophic, apocalyptic," Josep Borrell said in Brussels on Monday after chairing a meeting of the EU's foreign ministers.

"The destruction of buildings in Gaza...is more or less or even greater than the destruction suffered by the German cities during the Second World War," he noted, adding, "85 percent of the population is internally displaced."

Israel launched its devastating military aggression against Gaza on October 7 following an operation staged by the territory's resistance groups, dubbed Operation al-Aqsa Storm.

Independent experts estimate that as much as 40 percent of housing units in Gaza has been either damaged or totally destroyed.

According to the United Nations, as many as 1.8 million people have been internally displaced in Gaza, many living in overcrowded UN shelters in the coastal territory's south.

The European official noted that the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza has resulted in "an incredible number of civilian casualties."

"Civilian casualties are between 60 and 70 percent of the overall deaths" based on Gaza Health Ministry's figures, Borrell said, adding, "The human suffering constitutes an unprecedented challenge to the international community."

More than 18,200 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed during the Israeli onslaught on Gaza so far, while upwards of 49,600 others have been wounded. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under the rubble.

Settler violence in West Bank

Elsewhere in his remarks, Borrell said the European Union was "alarmed by the violence [against Palestinians] in the [occupied] West Bank by extremist settlers."

He said he had presented a discussion paper to the EU foreign ministers looking at "imposing sanctions against extremist settlers in the West Bank," who have stepped up attacks against Palestinian residents.

Borrell added that he would soon make the discussion paper a formal proposal, which may include refusing visas to extremist Israeli settlers..

Earlier this year, an international human rights organization similarly warned about a "sharp increase" in violent assaults by extremist settlers across the occupied Palestinian territories "under the political cover" provided by the Israeli regime.

EuroMed Rights, a network of 68 human rights organizations, institutions, and individuals based in 30 countries across Europe and the Mediterranean region, said the number of settler attacks in the first half of the current year had reached 1,148, "nearly equaling the total number of attacks recorded in the [entire] previous year (2022), which was 1,187."

Concluding his remarks, Borrell condemned the Israeli regime's decision to approve 1,700 more housing units in the occupied city of al-Quds, which Brussels considers a violation of international law.

In a statement issued on November 3, Michael Lynk and Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the United Nations special rapporteurs on the situation of human rights in the West Bank and on adequate housing, similarly denounced Israel’s plan to build the new settler units.

The UN experts condemned Israeli settlements as "the engine of the occupation," saying the Tel Aviv regime’s illegal construction activities "trample" on human rights law.

Source: Press TV