EU's Borrell says US must put more pressure on Israel over Gaza aid

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Thursday after meetings in Washington that the United States should put more pressure on Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, amid what he called a man-made disaster in the strip.

Borrell, in a briefing with reporters at the EU's offices in Washington, said that recent efforts, including by the United States, to get aid into Gaza via airdrops or from ships were not as effective as overland routes, which can allow hundreds of trucks in every day.

"We certainly expect the U.S. government to continue putting pressure, putting more pressure on Israel to open the border and not to (impede) humanitarian access," he added.

Borrell, who met U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday, said Washington was doing a lot to secure more aid access.

Israel says it plans to "flood" Gaza with humanitarian aid from a variety of entry points amid mounting calls, including from Biden administration officials, that something must be done to avert the risk of famine among the territory's 2.3 million inhabitants.

"We have increased our humanitarian support but it's certainly not enough," Borrell said. "And a fact everybody recognizes is that there is a clear impeding (of) humanitarian access by the one who controls the border (of Gaza), who is the Israeli government."

(Reporting by Simon Lewis in Washington and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

By Simon Lewis