At a time when Israel continues its attacks in Gaza and Israeli officials announced that the plan to exile Palestinians from Gaza is still on the agenda, some European countries' signing new military agreements with Israel is drawing reaction.
Human Rights Watch's (HRW) representative to the European Union (EU), Claudio Francavilla, and former HRW Director, Princeton University Visiting Professor Kenneth Roth, made statements to the AA correspondent about countries such as Germany, Greece and Finland making military agreements and maintaining relations with Tel Aviv at a time when Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said that the plan to deport Palestinians from Gaza was still on the agenda.
Francavilla stated that ethnic cleansing plans should be responded to with trade measures and an arms embargo, in addition to sanctions within the scope of crimes such as crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide crimes. "Continuing military cooperation with Israel in the face of ongoing brutality is not only unconscionable, but also poses the risk of the state and individuals becoming complicit in these crimes." he said.
Roth also noted that the main purpose of Israel's genocide in Gaza was to make civilian life unbearable in order to force 2 million Palestinians to flee and said, "(US President Donald) Trump supported this plan at the beginning of his second term, but gave up his stance when no government in the region adopted it." made his assessment.
Stating that the Israeli government hopes to persuade Trump to revive the plan to exile Palestinians, Roth emphasized that the plan constitutes "an extremely grave war crime and crime against humanity."
Roth stated that Germany should have "better understood" the danger of providing military support to a government committing genocide due to its Holocaust history, but acted otherwise. "This situation shows that the German government has learned the wrong lesson from the Holocaust. The lesson to be learned should not be to support the Israeli government even in cases where it disregards international human rights standards, but on the contrary, to defend those standards that reduce the likelihood of such mass atrocities." he said.
The Israeli army continues its attacks despite the ceasefire implemented in the Gaza Strip.
According to the latest statement of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, 1334 Palestinians have lost their lives and more than 4,400 people have been injured in attacks carried out by the Israeli army since the ceasefire came into force on October 10, 2025. A total of 73 thousand 470 people have died and more than 174 thousand 500 people have been injured in Israel's attacks on Gaza since October 2023.
It was revealed that the German government approved the shipment of military equipment worth approximately 800 million euros to Israel, after it lifted the partial arms export restrictions imposed on Israel, which was accused of committing genocide in Gaza.
It was also revealed that Finland signed the defense cooperation agreement with Israel without announcing it to the public in 2024, when the genocide in Gaza was continuing, and extended it until 2034.
The "Achilles Shield" air defense agreement worth approximately 3 billion euros was signed between the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the Greek Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv.
