EU's emergency meeting

The European Union (EU) is convening an emergency meeting of its foreign ministers to assess the developing violence in Israel, while stressing that the nation had every right to defend itself against the unprecedented incursion by Hamas fighters.

The ministers will organise the Tuesday meeting in Oman, where EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and some EU delegations are attending an EU-Gulf Cooperation Council joint meeting.

Others will join by video conference.

“The priority right now is for the aggression by Hamas to stop. The hostages need to be released and we need to see the overall deescalation of the situation,” EU spokesman Peter Stano said.