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BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Sunday he hopes a meeting of Mediterranean officials will help bridge a gap between Arab and European countries in calling for a humanitarian pause in Gaza to become a permanent cease-fire.

The fragile pause in hostilities between Israel and the Hamas militant group continued Sunday with a third straight day of hostages and Palestinian prisoners released. It was originally scheduled for four days and neither side has made fully clear what comes after Monday.

Safadi said the truce was holding up but that more effort was needed to reach at least 200 daily trucks bringing aid into the Gaza Strip, and for the pause in the fighting “to immediately develop into a permanent cease-fire.”

The minister spoke to The Associated Press on the eve of Monday’s Union for the Mediterranean gathering that will bring to Barcelona in northern Spain 42 delegations from Europe, the Middle East and northern Africa, many of them represented by their foreign ministers.

Israel is not attending the meeting, which in past years has largely become a forum for cooperation between the European Union and the Arab world. But the meeting has taken on new significance since the Oct. 7 militant attack on Israel and Israel’s ensuing war with Hamas.

Jordan, a key Western ally, signed a peace agreement with Israel in 1994. The countries maintain covert security relations and some business ties, but relations have cooled over Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.

Safadi noted that while Arab nations have demanded the end of what he called Israel’s “aggression” in Gaza, most European nations have not gone that far, instead calling for a “humanitarian pause.”

“We need to bridge the gap,” Safadi said, adding that the war “is producing nothing.”

“What is this war achieving other than killing people, destroying their livelihoods,

LONDON: EU officials must condemn Israeli atrocities and violations of international law at the EU-Israel Association Council meeting on Monday, Human Rights Watch has urged.

The meeting will be led by EU High Representative Kaja Kallas and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar.

Kallas will be joined by EU foreign ministers. Together, they should “signal an end to the bloc’s reluctance to acknowledge and address Israel’s war crimes, crimes against humanity — including apartheid — and acts of genocide,” HRW said.

Last February, Spain and Ireland requested a suspension to the EU-Israel Association Agreement due to Israel’s grave abuses of its human rights obligations. The request has yet to be answered by the EU.

The Association Council is the EU’s top-level bilateral meeting with Israel, held as part of the agreement.

The last meeting took place in October 2022 following a 10-year pause initiated by Israel over discontent with the EU’s condemnation of settlement-building in the Occupied Territories.

Claudio Francavilla, associate EU director at HRW, said: “There can be no business as usual with a government responsible for crimes against humanity, including apartheid, and acts of genocide, and whose sitting prime minister is wanted for atrocity crimes by the International Criminal Court.

“The only purpose of this Association Council meeting should be to call out those crimes and to announce long overdue measures in response.”

More than 100 civil society organizations, including HRW, urged the EU in a letter to center discussions with Saar on the potential suspension of the agreement.

Article 2 names human rights and democratic principles as “essential elements” which, if violated, can lead to the suspension of the treaty.

HRW has documented extensive abuses by Israel during the conflict in Gaza, including war crimes, ethnic cleansing, crimes against human

This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The Gaza war has been extensively covered by media outlets around the world. This coverage has been diverse, spanning from traditional news outlets to social media platforms, and comprises a wide variety of perspectives and narratives.

During the conflict, Israel imposed strict controls on international journalists, requiring military escorts and pre-broadcast reviews of their footage. In January 2024, the Supreme Court of Israel upheld these requirements on security grounds. Prominent U.S. media organizations like NBC and CNN confirmed that Israel had the authority to approve content from Gaza, with journalists embedded with the Israeli military required to submit materials for review.

Social media has played a significant role in sharing information, with platforms like TikTok seeing billions of views on related content. Research showed a vast disparity in the number of pro-Palestinian versus pro-Israeli posts. The conflict has led to the spread of misleading information and propaganda. Hamas has been banned from most social media platforms, although content from the group still circulates on sites like Telegram. In Gaza, local content creators documented their experiences, gaining significant followings.

In Israel, social media has been used to garner support for military actions, with the government running ads portraying Hamas negatively. Some Israeli influencers and content creators have mocked and dehumanized Palestinians, leading to widespread criticism. Videos posted by Israeli soldiers showing abuse and destruction in Gaza have gone viral, prompting international condemnation and internal investigations by the Israel Defence Forces.

The war has had a severe impact on Gaza's infrastructure and economy, with extensive damage to homes, hospitals, schools, and essential services. The conflict has caused significant job