The European Commission will propose sanctions on far-right Israeli ministers and a partial suspension of the European Union’s association agreement with Israel, targeting trade-related matters, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.

The announcement, which Jerusalem said was “tainted” by echoes of Hamas propaganda, marked an escalation in the EU’s response to Israel’s continued war in the Gaza Strip, on the brink of a new Israeli offensive there and in the wake of Jerusalem’s strike on Hamas’s political leadership in Doha, Qatar.

“What is happening in Gaza has shaken the conscience of the world,” von der Leyen said in a State of the Union speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.

“People killed while begging for food. Mothers holding lifeless babies,” she said. “Man-made famine can never be a weapon of war. For the sake of the children, for the sake of humanity. This must stop.”

Israel has rejected all claims of starvation in Gaza, and has emphasized its efforts throughout most of the war to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip.

Israel also denies targeting civilians, including those seeking food aid. It has acknowledged, however, that its forces, who often secure distribution sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, have fired warning shots amid chaotic scenes. The UN says more than 1,000 people have been killed at aid sites, mostly from Israeli fire. Israel says the figures are exaggerated, but has not provided alternative numbers.

These alleged actions in Gaza, von der Leyen said, were part of a “systematic shift in the last month that is simply unacceptable.”

That shift, she said, was marked by the “financial suffocation” of the Palestinian Authority, the approval of new settlement construction in the controversial E1 area of the West Bank, and “actions and statements by the most extreme ministers of the Israeli government, which incite violence.”

“All of this points to a clear attempt to undermine the two-state solution, to undermine the vision of a viable Palestinian state. And we must not let this happen,” von der Leyen said.

She proposed a partial suspension of the EU’s association agreement with Israel, which counts the bloc as its largest trading partner, accounting for nearly a third of Israel’s total international trade in goods last year.

The move would withdraw trade preferences for Israeli products to enter the EU market and would require a qualified majority vote among EU governments, according to a July options paper prepared by the bloc’s diplomatic service.

A qualified majority is reached with the support of 15 out of 27 members representing 65% of the EU population, a difficult threshold to reach at a time when European capitals continue to have diverging views on how to approach Israel and Gaza.

The Commission had previously proposed curbing Israeli access to its flagship research funding program but failed to garner sufficient support from EU member countries for the move.

Diplomats say Germany’s view on the proposal is key, and Germany has said it is so far unconvinced.

In addition to the proposed trade sanctions, von der Leyen said that the Commission will put its bilateral support for Israel on hold, without affecting work with Israeli civil society and Yad Vashem, Israel’s main Holocaust memorial center.

Additionally, the European Commission “will propose sanctions on the extremist ministers and on violent settlers,” she said, drawing one of several rounds of applause she received during the speech.

Von der Leyen was likely referring to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

Both far-right ministers have already been sanctioned by Australia, Canada, Britain, New Zealand, and Norway. Slovenia and Spain, both EU members, have also said recently that they will ban the two.

Ben Gvir and Smotrich both hold significant authority over the West Bank, where violent attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, and occasionally against Israeli soldiers, have surged since the Hamas terror group’s October 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel set off the ongoing war.

Though some settlers have been arrested after attacking Israeli security forces, the vast majority of perpetrators have not been prosecuted over the incidents, which have become a near-daily occurrence.

Additionally, von der Leyen said the Commission will set up a “Palestine donor group” next month, including a dedicated mechanism to fund Gaza’s reconstruction after the war.

Von der Leyen’s comments came the day after the Israel Defense Forces warned Gaza City residents to evacuate ahead of its plans to take control of the city.

Jerusalem has portrayed Gaza City as one of Hamas’s last strongholds, almost two years into the war that began with the October 7, 2023, attack, when thousands of terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.

Her statements also came after an Israeli strike targeted Hamas’s leaders in Qatar, where negotiations over releasing the remaining captives — 48, of whom 20-22 are believed to be alive — and ending the war appeared at a standstill.

At the end of her remarks, the EU commissioner called for the release of the hostages, the “unrestrained” entry into Gaza of humanitarian aid, and “an immediate ceasefire.”

Additionally, she said: “There can never be any place for Hamas, neither now nor in future because they are terrorists who want to destroy Israel.”

“They are also inflicting terror on their own people, keeping their future hostage,” she added.

The remarks drew wide applause as well as some heckling.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said in a statement that von der Leyen’s comments were “regrettable,” adding that some of her remarks were “tainted by echoing the false propaganda of Hamas and its partners.”

“Israel, the world’s only Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East, is fighting a war of existence against extremist enemies working to eliminate it. The international community must back Israel in this struggle,” he said.

Sa’ar said the EU commissioner is “well aware” of Israel’s efforts to ensure that humanitarian aid gets into Gaza, and said the results of the effort are “evident on the ground, including by the dramatic decline in the prices of basic goods in Gaza,” presumably in comparison to when prices shot up earlier this year, when Israel blocked all aid for two months.

“And yet, the main point was missing from the President’s statement: the suffering in Gaza is entirely the work of Hamas. The war itself began with Hamas’s invasion of Israel and the Oct. 7th massacre,” he wrote on X. “Its continuation is the result of Hamas’s persistent refusal to release our hostages and lay down its arms.

“Anyone who seeks an end to the war knows very well how to end it: the release of the hostages, the disarmament of Hamas, a new future for Gaza. Hurting Israel will not bring this about; on the contrary, it entrenches Hamas and Israel’s enemies in their refusal,” said Sa’ar.

He concluded, “The President of the Commission errs in yielding to the pressures of elements that seek to undermine Israel–Europe relations. This trend is contrary to the interests of the European states themselves. And mainly: this is not acceptable conduct between partners.”