LONDON

Denmark said Monday Israel has gone too far with the war on Gaza, accusing Tel Aviv of refusing to listen to the international community.

“I think that this (war) should have been stopped a long time ago with a cease-fire,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen was quoted as saying by national broadcaster DR.

According to the minister, it has long been clear that the civilian cost of Israel's response to the Hamas’s attack on Oct. 7 last year is disproportionate.

“We have voted for a cease-fire in the UN and argued for it in the EU. A cease-fire that could lead to the release of the hostages, that humanitarian aid could enter Gaza, and that could be the starting point for a negotiation track that could lead to a free Palestine next to Israel,” he said.

However, the cease-fire has not materialized because the Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has rejected the appeal, Rasmussen added.

The Israeli government “has not yet listened sufficiently to the international community, including all of Israel's friends led by the United States,” he added.

Since Israel launched a brutal war on Gaza last October, it has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured almost 100,000 with thousands still missing under the rubble of destroyed buildings.

Exactly one year into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine. Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) due to its actions in Gaza.