Josep Borrell

EU foreign ministers hold separate talks Monday with their Israeli and Palestinian counterparts on the prospects for lasting peace after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls for a future two-state solution.

The EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell late Friday accused Israel of having "created" and "financed" the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which launched unprecedented attacks on Israel on Oct. 7.

Israel killed a top commander of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in a strike on south Lebanon, a security source told AFP Monday, adding to fears the conflict in Gaza could spread.

Hezbollah later announced the killing of a "commander" for the first time, naming him as Wissam Hassan Tawil. It said he died "on the road to Jerusalem" — the phrase used for fighters killed by Israel.

Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah traded fire Saturday in one of the heaviest days of cross-border fighting in recent weeks, a day after the militia's leader urged retaliation for the targeted killing, presumably by Israel, of a top Hamas leader in Lebanon's capital.

Palestinians to be able to manage civil affairs with the help of a "global task force", without Israeli settlement activities, but under continued military control.

The international community must impose a solution to the Israel-Hamas conflict as the warring sides are unable to come to terms, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Wednesday.

Türkiye calls on the European Union to unconditionally start talks for the modernization of the customs union while expressing its discomfort about the postponement of the approval of a key report that draws a road map for the future ties between Ankara and Brussels at the latest EU Council summit.

BRUSSELS - EU spokesperson Peter Stano said on Friday the Brussels and Ohrid agreements from the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue were legally binding in their entirety to both parties and that their comprehensive implementation was an integral part of the parties' EU paths.

The situation in Gaza is "catastrophic, apocalyptic", with destruction proportionally "even greater" than that which Germany experienced in World War II, the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell said Monday.

Israel's military response to Hamas's October 7 attacks has resulted in "an incredible number of civilian casualties", Borrell said after chairing a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

Ukraine's foreign minister warned European Union leaders yesterday that if they fail to agree to open membership talks with Kiev at their summit this week it will have "devastating consequences."

"I cannot imagine," Dmytro Kuleba told reporters in Brussels "I don't even want to talk about the devastating consequences that will occur shall the Council fail to make this decision."