Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, has said she is considering sanctions and other forms of pressure against Israel over its actions in Gaza and the West Bank, said a Middle East Eye report. “[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is now a problem in himself,” Frederiksen said in an interview with the daily Jyllands-Posten, adding that the Israeli government was going “too far”.
The centre-right leader condemned the “absolutely appalling and catastrophic” humanitarian situation in Gaza and criticised Israeli plans to proceed with a new settlement project in the occupied West Bank.
“We are one of the countries that want to increase pressure on Israel, but we have not yet obtained the support of EU members,” she said.
Frederiksen added that she wanted to consider “political pressure, sanctions, whether against settlers, ministers, or even Israel as a whole”.
“We are not ruling anything out in advance. Just as with Russia, we are designing the sanctions to target where we believe they will have the greatest effect,” she said.
Denmark is not among the countries that recently announced plans to recognise a Palestinian state.
Her comments come as Israel continues its bombardment of Gaza, which has killed more than 61,430 Palestinians since October 2023.
Eight Palestinians were killed and others were wounded on Saturday morning after Israeli forces bombed central and southern Gaza.
Medical sources at al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat refugee camp told Wafa news agency that six people, including four children, were killed when Israeli forces targeted a house in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
