Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told his European Union counterparts in Brussels on Monday that Israel was open to extending the ongoing ceasefire in Gaza if more hostages are released by the Hamas terror group.

“It will not happen without the release of hostages,” said Sa’ar, in his meetings with the Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Finnish and Slovakian foreign ministers, according to his office.

“We are committed to the release of our hostages and to the war’s objectives that we set,” he said, referring to the elimination of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, the return of all the hostages, and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel.

Sa’ar was in the Belgian capital to meet with EU leadership and the bloc’s 27 foreign ministers, as part of the annual Association Council meeting — Israel’s first meeting with the Council since 2022.

The talks, which Sa’ar was co-chairing with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas,  were set to focus on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Israeli-Palestinian relations and changing regional dynamics, amid last month’s fragile ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and the Hamas terror group.

Sa’ar called for “constructive dialogue” but braced for criticism in the talks, held as the bloc considers its potential role in the reconstruction of Gaza following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of his plan to take over the Strip and permanently displace its residents.

At the meeting, the EU was also set to emphasize both Europe’s commitment to Israel’s security and its view that “displaced Gazans should be ensured a safe and dignified return to their homes in Gaza,” according to a draft document seen by Reuters — an apparent rejection of Trump’s plan, which Sa’ar has praised as a possible solution to the “failed experiment” of Gaza.

Amid the possibility that the Palestinian Authority would take over the Strip after the war there, Sa’ar urged the EU to ensure the removal of anti-Israel material from the PA’s school system.

Ahead of Sa’ar’s meetings with the EU officials, the bloc’s member countries, some of which have harshly criticized Israel over the war in Gaza, negotiated a compromise position that praises areas of cooperation with Israel while also raising concerns.

Speaking to reporters on arrival, Sa’ar said he was “looking for a constructive dialogue, an open and honest one, and I believe that this is what it will be.”

“We know how to face criticism,” he said, adding that “it’s okay as long as criticism is not connected to delegitimization, demonization, or double standards… but we are ready to discuss everything with an open mind.”

Within the EU, “there are very friendly countries [and] there are less friendly countries,” said Sa’ar, adding that Monday’s meeting showed a willingness to renew normal relations.

In a statement on X, Sa’ar said he had met Roberta Metsola, president of the EU parliament, and told her that the PA “must stop incitement against Israel in their education system.”

“The EU must ensure that their funds do not contribute to these purposes,” Sa’ar wrote on X, calling Metsola a “true friend of Israel.”

Israel has long accused the PA of inciting and incentivizing terrorism through its curriculum and payments to Palestinian security prisoners and their families, as well as relatives of dead assailants, under the PA’s so-called pay-for-slay laws.

Sa’ar, unlike other members of Israel’s right wing, has not ruled out a role for the PA in Gaza’s postwar governance, but has said it must first change its curriculum and stop paying stipends to prisoners. Ramallah earlier this month announced that these stipends would be replaced by welfare payments based solely on need, but PA chief Mahmoud Abbas has nevertheless vowed to give “every penny” left to “martyrs,” and critics have claimed the stipends will continue via a less obvious avenue.

The EU, a major contributor to the PA, has conditioned aid on the West Bank-based body’s progress in reforming itself.

Sa’ar also told his counterparts on Monday that it is time to enforce existing sanctions on Iran and impose new ones, his office said.

The bloc has been split on Israel amid the war in Gaza, sparked when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.

Some EU countries, such as Germany, Hungary and Italy, have struck a pro-Israel stance, while others, such as Spain, Ireland and Slovenia, have harshly criticized the destruction in Gaza during the subsequent war on Hamas.

In February 2024, the leaders of Spain and Ireland sent a letter to the European Commission asking for a review of whether Israel was complying with its human rights obligations under the 2000 EU-Israel Association Agreement, which provides the basis for political and economic cooperation between the two sides.

Over Israel’s opposition, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia have in the past year recognized Palestinian statehood and applied to join South Africa’s case in the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide. Sa’ar shuttered Israel’s embassy in Ireland in December, a month after taking office.

Israel strongly rejects the accusation of genocide, saying it only targets terror operatives and seeks to minimize civilian fatalities, and stressing that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.