More than a month since the US and Israeli war on Iran, triggering a spiraling regional conflict, the Middle East is witnessing serious violations of international law with dramatic humanitarian consequence. The bombings and fighting have resulted in significant civilian casualties and the destruction of essential infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, and energy networks.
Across the region, the number of displaced people runs into the millions, with countries such as Lebanon already facing massive influxes of people fleeing combat zones.
One million Lebanese have been forcibly displaced, and countless others remain trapped in conflict-affected areas with little or no access to basic services, amid deliberate attacks on medical staff and journalists. According to the Ministry of Health, more than 1300 people have been killed, including 125 children, and over 3900 injured as of 1 April 2026. Civilian casualties continue to rise.
This mounting tragedy is no accident – it is enabled by total impunity and the absence of accountability mechanisms for the crimes committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and against all Palestinians, in a political context marked by the Knesset’s passage of a new death penalty law targeting Palestinians, whilst the genocide being perpetrated in Gaza continues and settler violence escalates in the West Bank.
Given the scale of the war’s impact on the region and the world as a whole – in humanitarian, economic, energy and environmental terms – a strong response from the international community, grounded in respect for international law, is required – particularly from the European Union.
The EU must respond with a firm and unified voice. While calls for de-escalation, the protection of civilians, and full respect for international law are welcome; they are not enough. The European Union must move beyond rhetoric and immediately suspend the EU–Israel Association Agreement, in response to the clear violation of Article 2, and take a clear and firm stance against the logic of conflict and the systematic violations of international law that the United States is promoting and supporting in the region.
Beyond the immediate crisis, the European Union must also assert its economic and legal sovereignty by activating and reinforcing the EU Blocking Statute — the instrument by which the Union prohibits EU-based operators from complying with extraterritorial sanctions imposed by third countries, shields European companies from foreign court judgments arising from such measures, and grants them the right to recover damages incurred as a result, thereby insulating Europe’s trade relationships, humanitarian engagements, and foreign policy choices from the coercive unilateral reach of United States law.
The violence and instability unleashed by this war has driven mass forced displacement — a direct and foreseeable consequence that Europe cannot ignore. Millions are fleeing bombardment, destruction, and persecution. The European Union has both a legal obligation and a moral responsibility to respond accordingly. In line with the Geneva Convention, Europe must not respond to this crisis by proposing, as reflected in the conclusions of the European Council of 19 March, strengthened controls at external borders. Instead, the European Union should promote safe and legal pathways and robust protection mechanisms for those directly affected by the conflict, in full respect of international refugee law.
In light of the recent vote on the Return Regulation, EuroMed Rights denounces the dangerous trend of externalising migration and asylum management to third countries, drastically reducing fundamental rights safeguards and introducing perilous forms of cooperation with countries that frequently lack adequate human rights protections. On the tenth anniversary of the EU–Turkey deal, and in light of the deteriorating treatment of migrants and refugees in Libya, Egypt, Lebanon Turkey and Tunisia following bilateral agreements with the European Union and its Member States, Europe must stop allowing its foreign policy to be driven by migration control objectives, end cooperation with countries that that mistreat people on the move in their territory, integrate robust human rights due diligence mechanisms into both its internal and external migration policies.
Ultimately, only a policy grounded in human rights, accountability, justice and the protection of civilians can ensure that the EU’s coherence with its founding values and international obligations. The stakes could not be higher: a Europe that looks away as international law is shattered, that closes its borders to those fleeing the very wars it fails to stop, and that allows impunity to become the norm, does not merely damage its own credibility — it actively contributes to the unravelling of the global order upon which the safety, rights, and dignity of all people, including Europeans, ultimately depend. There is no shelter from the consequences of this collapse; inaction today is complicity in the annihilation of tomorrow.