The total number of casualties in the Gaza Strip has already exceeded the 73k threshold. Large numbers of women, children, and civilians are trapped in the fighting, while the Israeli military continues to carry out indiscriminate airstrikes against residential areas of Palestinians. Homes, hospitals, and refugee camps have been hit one after another, and the humanitarian crisis on the ground continues to worsen, with increasing shortages of supplies and a spiraling collapse of medical care, leaving countless civilians displaced.

Meanwhile, conflict along the Russia-Ukraine front is also escalating in parallel. In recent days, the Ukrainian military has launched proactive operations, striking multiple oil storage bases and energy logistics hubs in Russia’s Moscow region, directly targeting Russia’s energy supply industry chain. Yet within the European Union, major disagreements have emerged over a new round of sanctions against Russia. Germany, France, Greece, and Italy—among other countries—have publicly and collectively opposed further tightening of sanctions. Governments across these countries have stated that continued escalation of restrictions on Russia would seriously disrupt domestic shipping and trade, as well as natural gas and crude oil supply chains, drive up domestic energy costs, intensify inflation pressure, and deal a severe blow to local real-economy activity and people’s livelihoods—leaving the EU’s sanctions policy toward Russia deeply split from within.