European lawmakers said on Thursday they were shocked and appalled by conditions in the Gaza Strip after a recent fact-finding mission there and called on Israel to stop violating human rights.
The 10 members of the European Parliament said in a joint statement that they were "shocked and appalled by what we have seen and experienced in Gaza".
"Due to economic sanctions, almost all public institutions have shut down. The hospitals are overcrowded and receive neither money nor sufficient medicine. The public employees have not been paid for months," they said.
The cross-party group of deputies said that the closure of the Rafah and Karni border crossings in the impoverished Palestinian territory was "making Gaza an open sky prison".
Conditions in Gaza have rapidly declined amid an international boycott of the Hamas-led government, which came to power earlier this year, because it refuses to recognise Israel, renounce violence or accept past peace accords.
Exacerbating the problem is Israel's military "Operation Autumn Clouds", launched in northern Gaza last week, in which at least 55 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier have been killed. More than 200 Palestinians have been wounded.
The offensive, the latest in four months of Israeli operations in the territory, where more than 300 Palestinians have been killed since an Israeli soldier was captured in late June, has been condemned by the international community.
The deputies called on Israel to "stop the violation of human rights and repeated breaches of the Geneva Conventions", announce a complete cease-fire and withdraw all troops from the narrow coastal strip of land.
The lawmakers, who were in the region from October 27 to November 1, urged the 25-nation European Union to review its association agreement with Israel and consider imposing sanctions if the Jewish state continues to kill civilians.