Civilian casualties must be avoided and Israel's response must be directed at Hamas and not the Palestinian people in Gaza, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic told the France 24 broadcaster on Sunday after a meeting of the EU Autumn Council in Brussels.

Plenkovic recalled the “deliberate provocation” of Hamas during the terrorist attack of October 7 and the EU’s support for Israel’s right to “protect its security, but also to defend itself, while respecting international law and humanitarian law” because “civilian victims must be avoided, Israeli responses must be targeted at Hamas and not against the Palestinian people in Gaza”.

The European Union has witnessed confusion and hesitation after several European leaders visited Israel without a previously agreed plan, the Paris-based state broadcaster says.

At the last Council, the EU27 came to the common conclusion calling for pauses in the conflict and humanitarian corridors.

The Autumn Council this weekend discussed the conflict between Israel and Hamas, as well as the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. European leaders also discussed EU enlargement, borders, immigration, and the EU’s economic outlook and rules.

The European Union is the largest contributor of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians (1.2 billion euros over the last two years), but its action does not seem to have much impact in the region, France 24 says.

“The tripling of humanitarian aid, by decision of the Commission with the support of member countries, was essential and necessary,” the Croatian prime minister told France 24.

Recent political visits by representatives of European institutions and heads of state and government “sent a clear message: condemnation, avoid civilian casualties and avoid regional escalation. Because we have too many conflicts now around Europe,” Plenkovic said, a reference to the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fears that the conflict in the Middle East will shift the EU’s attention from the war which has been raging for more than 18 months in his country.

Plenkovic wants to be reassuring: “It is always difficult to manage several crises (…), but I believe that there is no reason to be worried when it comes to Ukraine. Support for Ukraine is very, very broad (…) and it is always the priority of the European Union,” despite the recent return to power of the Slovak populist Robert Fico, who declared that he no longer wanted to support Kyiv militarily and that his aid would be limited to humanitarian aid.

“The important thing is the opinion of the vast majority of member countries (…) and over time, I believe that Slovakia will align itself with the main lines of European policy,” said Plenkovic.

Another troublemaker with regard to the European policy in this conflict is Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who met Vladimir Putin during a recent summit in China, France 24 says.

This meeting “did not surprise” Andrej Plenkovic: “There is a certain consistency in what he does, because he has always had a separate position regarding support for Ukraine. (…) And this is not at all the policy of the vast majority of member countries.”

Croatia, for its part, has promised five million euros in additional aid to Ukraine for mine clearance.

But its position remains ambiguous for some because it declared that it would not rule out banning the import of Ukrainian cereals, like Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, France 24 notes.

The Croatian prime minister wants to clarify the situation. “It has been said that Croatia can offer its ports for the transportation of Ukrainian grain. (…) The idea is to offer Ukraine transit and not import. That’s a big difference.”

He also recalled his country’s support for Ukraine “from the beginning. (Ukraine) was among the first five countries to recognise Croatia in 1991. And from the start, ten years ago, we have been standing by Ukraine.”

He also emphasised aid in “humanitarian demining” and legal aid for future “trials of war criminals”, because “we were victims of the Slobodan Milosevic regime and no one else can bring our level of expertise to Ukraine in this area”.