The EU has suggested it will press ahead with peace talks to end the war in Gaza without the involvement of Israel.
The so-called "peace plan" was proposed to EU foreign affairs ministers by Josep Borrell, the bloc’s top foreign diplomat, at a meeting in Brussels on Monday.
It comes as Borrell insisted on a two-state solution as he told Israel it couldn’t build peace "only by military means".
The Israeli government said it would not rest until Hamas was eradicated, all Israeli hostages were freed and the Gaza Strip posed no more security threat.
European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell
Reuters
A 12-point peace plan drawn up by Brussels’ foreign affairs arm states that it is "unrealistic to assume that Israelis and Palestinians will in the near future directly engage in bilateral peace negotiations".
The bloc has instead proposed parallel talks with the US, United Nations, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the League of Arab States, while threatening "consequences" against Israel if it refuses to engage.
The document, circulated to EU officials, said: "Palestinians will need a revitalised political alternative to Hamas, while Israelis will need to find the political will to engage in meaningful negotiations towards the two-state solution.
"Therefore, it is the responsibility of outside actors… such as the EU, to help the conflict parties by preparing the ground for comprehensive peace."
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Smoke rises from Gaza, as seen from Israel
Reuters
Borrell said: "What are the other solutions they have in mind? To make all the Palestinians leave? To kill off them?...The way they are destroying Hamas is not the way to do it. “They are sealing the hate for generations.
"What we want to do is to build a two-state solution. So let’s talk about it."
It comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under increasing political pressure to call elections amid growing internal conflict over the progress of the war.
Family members of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip stormed a parliamentary meeting in Jerusalem earlier this week demanding the government does more to return their loved ones.
Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected the creation of a Palestinian state to achieve peace in the Middle East, saying that any Palestinian state would pose "an existential danger" to Israel.
Gaza health authorities said at least 25,295 Gazans have been killed since the start of the conflict.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said on Monday it had lost all contact with its staff at Khan Younis’s al-Amal hospital.
The charity added that tanks had surrounded both al-Khair hospital and the nearby al-Aqsa University, where thousands of displaced people were sheltering.
