
European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Friday that Israel financed the creation of Hamas.
"Yes, Hamas was financed by the government of Israel in an attempt to weaken the Palestinian Authority led by Fatah," Borrell said in a speech in the University of Valladolid in Spain without elaborating, as quoted by Reuters.
Borrell added that the only peaceful solution included the creation of a Palestinian state.
"We only believe a two-state solution imposed from the outside would bring peace even though Israel insists on the negative," he said.
Opponents of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have accused him and his governments of boosting Hamas for years, including by allowing Qatari financing of Gaza. Netanyahu has denied those allegations.
Borrell’s comments come a day after the European Parliament adopted a symbolic resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas.
The resolution consists of an amendment that states that the condition for the ceasefire is the dismantling of Hamas and the immediate and unconditional release of all remaining hostages.
EU lawmakers also condemned what they called Israel's "disproportionate" response to Hamas' October 7 massacre, expressing their “deep concern at the dire and rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.” They also voiced their support for a European initiative to resume the so-called two-state solution.
Borrell previously condemned Hamas for using "hospitals and civilians as human shields" in Gaza, but also urged Israel to show "maximum restraint" to protect civilians from the war it is waging against Hamas.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)