ANKARA

France and Belgium expressed concern over a high number of casualties in the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza due to Israeli attacks.

"We are concerned over the ways how military operations are conducted by Israel in Gaza, with a very high number of casualties, and we are also very concerned over the humanitarian situation that becomes very critical," French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said at the doorstep of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels.

She stressed the need for a "long-term, durable truce that would lead to a cease-fire."

Colonna also expressed concern over the Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.

Israel launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7.

Israel resumed its military offensive on the Gaza Strip on Dec. 1 after the end of a weeklong humanitarian pause with the Palestinian group Hamas.

Nearly 18,000 Palestinians mostly children and women have been killed and more than 49,200 others injured in Israeli attacks on the besieged enclave since Oct. 7.

Belgium calls for 'humanitarian cease-fire'

Belgium's Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib also spoke about the "unsustainable" humanitarian situation in Gaza and said: "We continue to plead for stopping immediately the hostilities to allow a humanitarian cease-fire that, we hope, would lead to relaunch peace negotiations."

Lahbib stressed the need for "humanitarian corridors" to allow the delivery of aid in Gaza, and also said that the violence was rising in the West Bank, where the average number of attacks by extremist settlers on Palestinians rose from three to seven per day.

"Belgium decided to take measures and to deny entry to violent settlers in its territory," Lahbib said, adding that she would continue efforts to deny access in the Schengen area too.

Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have soared to its highest level since the escalation of the Israel-Gaza conflict on Oct. 7.

Extremists among the settlers have committed over 300 violent attacks, killing at least nine Palestinians in the past two months, according to the health authorities. Hundreds of Palestinians were also forcibly displaced from their lands.