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European Union flags are seen waving outside the EU Commission Building in Brussels, Belgium. [Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency]

A human rights watchdog accused the EU on Thursday of evading its international obligations on the “grave crimes committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip,” Anadolu reports.

The EU is “proposing only selective and fragmented measures that fail to utilise its real leverage tools against Israel,” Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said in a statement on US social media platform X.

It also criticized the bloc’s approach to humanitarian access for Palestinians in the besieged enclave.

“Less than two months ago, the EU merely ‘monitored Israel’s compliance’ with a recent agreement aimed at improving humanitarian aid access to Gaza, a deal that Israel has failed to implement,” it added.

Israel’s Gaza offensive has killed at least 64,600 Palestinians since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.

READ: Russia says Israeli strikes on Qatar show its unwillingness to stop humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza