The news and especially the images from Gaza have reached a new level of human desperation and inhumanity, looking at Gaza’s suffering Palestinian population and the occupying Israeli military/government respectively. Genocidal bombing and starvation are taking place in full view of the entire world, but somehow the stage is sealed and we can only watch, without being heeded at the least in our appeals and protests. In response to the horror of the 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas on southern Israel, all hell has been let loose by the Israeli government, beyond any reasonable proportionality. Not even the International Court of Justice is listened to regarding the provisional measures for humanitarian access and the protection of civilians that it has mandated.
Is there anything that can still be done to stop the downward spiral, save as many Palestinians as possible, and even save Israel from the disgrace of being connected to another genocide of Srebrenica or even Rwanda proportions? What, if anything, can still be done to get at least some temporary relief to the suffering Gazan population? The food and medical provisions have been waiting outside the fences of the big prison that is Gaza since March but neither the UN nor other established humanitarian organizations are allowed to bring them in. Perhaps we are waiting for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – a recent US concoction with Israeli influence, remember the infamous floating pier off the coast of Gaza? – to organize itself and start distributing survival portions in select locations? Even this kind of assistance does not seem to be arriving soon enough to save many from the starving population, especially the children.
How does Greece, mentioned in the title above, come into the picture? The country has at least two cards which, if it played them with imagination a conviction, could contribute towards at least a partial improvement of the situation in Gaza. It has good relations with Israel and is a member of the UN Security Council, currently holding the rotating presidency of the Council.
The good relations between Greece and Israel have an understandable basis of shared geopolitical interests, including balancing Türkiye’s influence and controlling strategic energy pipelines. Prime Minister Mitsotakis has been close to his Israeli counterpart, above and beyond the EU average support for Israel. He has certainly avoided the kind of criticism of and indignation with Israeli actions that the Irish and Spanish Prime Ministers, among others, have expressed. Hopefully, this has not burnt the bridges with the Arab world and the Palestinians themselves, which Greece has also traditionally had good relations with, standing for the Palestinians’ right to self-determination and an eventual peaceful co-existence with Israel.
On the UN Security Council side, Greece is serving a two-year term since 1 January 2025 on this paramount body for international peace and security, which remains important despite the oft debilitating vetoes of at least two of its five permanent members. Prime Minister Mitsotakis is scheduled to chair a high-level debate of the Council on maritime security on 20 May in New York, as part of this month’s Greek Presidency. The protection of civilians in armed conflicts is another declared priority of the Greek Presidency.
It was under the Greek Presidency that the Security Council heard, on 13 May 2025, the impassioned plea of the UN Relief Coordinator, Thomas Fletcher, to “stop the 21st century atrocity” in Gaza. It would be good for the Gazans and actually for the Israelis and the whole world too if Greece did more than chairing a debate on maritime security that is not expected to lead to any concrete outcome. It could be a draft resolution, or the announcement of a lull in the Israeli attacks and the resumption of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, or even better something more long-term, towards a permanent ceasefire with international supervision and eventual reconstruction. At this critical moment for the lives of so many, even a few days of humanitarian assistance by the UN and its humanitarian partners would do, to start with.
Can Greece and the Mitsotakis government pull off such an act? The circumstances, require boldness and statesmanship beyond the ordinary, for the sake of the people of Gaza, our own humanity, and even Greece’s geostrategic interests. While Türkiye is confirmed as a major regional player, hosting talks on the Russia – Ukraine war, playing a decisive role in Syria and beyond, little Greece could use its historic brand, broad acceptance and goodwill to become an agent for humanity and peace, in a different but not less effective way than its much larger and more assertive neighbour.
*Georgios Kostakos is co-founder and Executive Director of the Brussels-based Foundation for Global Governance and Sustainability
