Ursula von der Leyen's announcement during her State of the Union address this month comes just weeks before the second anniversary of the Gaza war. In an unusual rebuke of the Jewish state, the European Commission president criticized the scale of the Israeli military campaign, which, she said, created a "man-made famine" in the Palestinian territory.
Following the 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas which saw 1,200 people killed and 250 hostages taken, Israel launched a major military operation in the Gaza Strip, which has already caused more than 64,000 deaths, according to data from the Hamas-led government in Gaza.
