The EU must come up with a more assertive response to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and the violations of international law, the bloc’s former chief diplomat has said.

In a strongly worded article, Josep Borrell said the EU had a “duty” to intervene and must come up with its own concerted plan to end the war instead of relying on the US.

“Europe can no longer afford to linger at the margins,” he said in the article that was co-authored with Kalypso Nicolaïdis, an occasional adviser to the EU and professorial chair in international affairs at the Florence school of transnational governance at the European University Institute. “The EU needs a concerted plan.

“Not only is Europe’s own security at stake, but more important, European history imposes a duty on Europeans to intervene in response to Israel’s violations of international law,” they say, adding: “Europeans cannot stay the hapless fools in this tragic story, dishing out cash with their eyes closed.”