UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese urged the European Union to suspend its Association Agreement with Israel, saying the bloc is "legally bound" to act because Israel is violating the pact’s human-rights clause. In posts timed to the EU foreign-affairs meeting in Brussels, Albanese argued that continuing preferential trade terms with an economy "inextricably linked to occupation, apartheid and genocide" makes the EU complicit in those crimes. The 2000 Association Agreement gives Israel tariff-free access to EU markets and makes the bloc Israel’s biggest commercial partner, handling nearly double the country’s trade with any other economy. EU foreign ministers on Tuesday discussed options ranging from a full suspension to targeted limits on research and cultural ties, but no consensus has emerged; a full halt would require unanimity. High Representative Kaja Kallas instead highlighted an arrangement aimed at increasing aid deliveries to Gaza, calling it "historic." Rights groups dismissed the outlook for incremental steps. Amnesty International said the ministers’ failure to trigger sanctions would be remembered as "one of the most disgraceful moments in EU history," warning that every delay deepens the risk of European complicity. Gaza’s health ministry says more than 58,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, a toll cited by critics as evidence that the bloc must move beyond diplomatic gestures and enforce the human-rights provisions written into its trade accord.