(MENAFN) Aid to Gaza must never be turned into a political tool, Hadja Lahbib, the EU Commissioner for Equality and for Preparedness and Crisis Management, said Thursday, sounding an alarm ahead of a high-stakes meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

Speaking to reporters before entering the session, Lahbib emphasized that, despite the return of Israeli hostages, conditions inside Gaza "remains devastating," noting that winter is closing in while Palestinians are "cold, wet, and hungry" after severe flooding.

She said the EU has already staged vital relief supplies in Egypt’s Al-Arish and in Amman, but aid continues to trickle into Gaza in what she described as only "tiny steps."

"We need full access," she said, urging immediate, unrestricted humanitarian operations.

Referring to a newly adopted resolution, Lahbib noted: "This week the UN Security Council adopted the resolution on the Gaza Peace Plan. We support this plan, but the devil is in the details. It will depend how it is put into action."

She reiterated the principles guiding humanitarian work: "Aid must be neutral, and impartial, in line with international humanitarian law. Never politicized. Never militarized."

Turning to the West Bank, Lahbib condemned the escalating violence. "Settler violence is surging. This violence must stop. International law must be respected," she said.

Since October 2023, the Israeli military campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 70,000 people—most of them women and children—injured more than 170,000, and left much of the territory in ruins.

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