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Germany must come up with \u201cmeasures\u201d and \u201cbring alternatives\u201d to break the EU\u2019s deadlock on Gaza, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in an exclusive interview<\/strong><\/a> with Euronews.<\/p>\n Kallas spoke as Israel toughened its military campaign in Gaza and launched a ground offensive on Tuesday. \u00a0She also spoke a week after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced during her State of the Union speech that she would\u00a0propose<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0to suspend its “bilateral support” with Israel and partially suspend the trade parts of the EU-Israel\u00a0association agreement<\/strong><\/a>. <\/p>\n To make good on von der Leyen\u2019s announcement, Kallas told Euronews that the commission would propose<\/strong><\/a> on Wednesday to reimpose\u00a0duties on Israeli goods in response to the war in Gaza and ongoing violations in the West Bank.<\/p>\n But suspending trade with Israel would require a qualified majority vote, and Germany leads the front of European countries opposing sanctions on the Jewish state, owing to the role it played in the Holocaust.<\/p>\n Asked how she would convince the German government to slap duties on Israel, Kallas said, \u201cIf you agree on the diagnosis that the situation is extremely grave, the situation is disastrous and untenable, then the question is what do we do about this?”<\/p>\n “If you don’t support these measures, then what measures can you support? Bring alternatives.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo if Germany had agreed to something a couple of years ago or agrees now, then it would actually put pressure on Israel and the situation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank may not be as grave as it is now;” Kallas continued.<\/p>\n She noted that Germany, under the pressure of its public opinion, had begun to shift its stance by halting arms exports to Israel, saying it is \u201ca significant step\u201d.<\/p>\n Italy and the Czech Republic are also part of the EU countries which oppose sanctions to Israel. <\/p>\n In July, Kallas presented a set of 10 options<\/strong><\/a> in response to Israel’s actions in Gaza, including suspension of trade preferences with Israel and blocking imports from Jewish settlements.\u00a0<\/p>\n