Sweden calls for EU sanctions targeting 'individual Israeli ministers'

"Since we do not see a clear improvement for the civilians in Gaza, we need to raise the tone further," Malmer Stenergard said in a statement to AFP.

"We will therefore now also push for EU sanctions against individual Israeli ministers," she added.

Stenergard said the sanctions should target "ministers who are pushing an illegal settlement policy and actively opposing a future two-state solution", with EU discussions determining which officials would be targeted.

But she insisted that Sweden was a "friend of Israel".

Her comments came as she met with EU counterparts in Brussels on Tuesday.

The Israeli army stepped up its offensive at the weekend, vowing to defeat the Hamas militant group that runs Gaza after its October 7th, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war.

Aid trickled into the Gaza Strip on Monday for the first time in more than two months, following widespread condemnation of Israel's total blockade that has caused severe shortages of food and medicine.

On Tuesday, a UN spokesman said it had received permission to send another "around 100" trucks of aid into Gaza.

"In all of our contacts with the Israeli government, we have long demanded increased humanitarian access and have been very critical of the fact that they have not secured it," Stenergard said.

She also said Sweden was concerned with "how the Israeli government continues to escalate the situation, both in terms of statements and actions".

Israel's security cabinet approved a plan this month to expand the military offensive, which one official said would include the "conquest" of Gaza and the displacement of its population.

On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel "will take control of all the territory of the strip".

Hamas's attack in October 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza including 34 the military says are dead.

Gaza's health ministry said Tuesday that at least 3,427 people had been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18th, taking the war's overall toll to 53,573.