“Bodies on the ground. Blood everywhere … countless wounded adults and children” in Beirut after Israeli strikes, but its EU allies say Israel “blame game” would not help.
Andrew Rettman
Israel’s “horrific carnage” in Lebanon has revived a threat of EU sanctions, while also seeing Iran re-close the Strait of Hormuz.
The “measures [sanctions] are still on the table”, warned a European Commission spokeswoman on Thursday (9 April), with commission president Ursula von der Leyen, who first proposed them last September, to hold emergency talks with her 26 commissioners on the Middle East on Monday.
“On this day of mourning … We express our deepest solidarity [with Lebanon] … our thoughts are with the victims and families of those affected by the severe levels of violence,” a second spokesman said.
The EU foreign affairs chief, Kaja Kallas, and several member states’ foreign ministers also condemned Israel’s killing of some 200 civilians on Wednesday.
“Israeli strikes killed hundreds last night, making it hard to argue that such heavy-handed actions fall within self-defence,” Kallas said on X.
Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into the war, but Israel’s right to defend itself does not justify inflicting such massive destruction.
Israeli strikes killed hundreds last night, making it hard to argue that such heavy-handed actions fall within self-defence.
Israeli actions are…
— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) April 9, 2026
French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot told France Inter radio that Lebanon had been made “the scapegoat for a government [Israel] upset because a ceasefire has been reached between the United States and Iran.”
Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares said in parliament: “Israel, flouting the [Iran] ceasefire and in violation of international law, dropped hundreds of bombs [on Lebanon]”.
Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani summoned Israel’s ambassador on Wednesday to complain about Israeli fire on Italian peacekeepers in a UN force in south Lebanon.
Beate Meinl-Reisinger, the foreign minister of Austria, a staunch Israeli ally, also planned to phone Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar on Thursday to seek explanations.
EU foreign ministers will discuss the Middle East in Luxembourg on 21 April, with diplomats in the EU Council to consider a response to events in the run-up to the meeting.
The Spanish foreign ministry told EUobserver it was a “consistent position of our government” that the sanctions should go ahead.
Von der Leyen’s proposed measures centre around suspending the EU-Israel association agreement, costing Israel some €1bn a year in lost trade perks, which could be adopted by a qualified majority in the EU Council, bypassing vetoes by pro-Israeli diehards, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
But Austria’s Meinl-Reisinger said she did not want to enter a “blame game” on the war, while Germany’s foreign minister Johann Wadephul also voiced muted criticism on Wednesday, saying only that Israel should limit its Lebanon actions to “self-defence”, indicating the majority would be hard to attain, even if France, Italy, and Spain were on board.
Credible threat needed
For his part, Marcin Konecny from the EuMEP civil society group in Brussels, said: “I don’t expect a QMV [qualified majority vote] in favour of suspension now, the question is if the discussion about it can be revived, creating some sort of credible threat”.
H.A. Hellyer from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think-tank in London said: “If the EU is serious about wanting to … stop Israel’s onslaught, suspending the association agreement is the least it can do”.
But Marina Miron, from King’s College London, said: “I’m sceptical in how far the EU can deter Israel [even via sanctions] as long as the US is supporting it”.
The UN’s human rights envoy, Volker Turk, called the Lebanon attack “nothing short of horrific”.
“Such carnage, within hours of agreeing to a ceasefire with Iran, defies belief,” he said.
