Sweden to summon Israeli ambassador over Gaza

Sweden's foreign ministry will summon Israel's ambassador in Stockholm to protest against a lack of humanitarian aid to people in Gaza, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Monday.

Last week, under growing international pressure, Israeli authorities allowed a trickle of aid into the Palestinian enclave but the few hundred trucks carried only a tiny fraction of the food needed by a population of 2 million at risk of famine after nearly three months of blockade.

Kristersson told Swedish news agency TT that the European Union should impose sanctions and exert diplomatic pressure on Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.

"We have been incredibly clear about that, ourselves and together with many other European countries," Kristersson told TT.

"That pressure is now increasing, no doubt, and for very good reasons," he said.

The Swedish prime minister's office confirmed to Reuters that Kristersson had made the statement.

Israel launched an air and ground war in Gaza after Hamas militants' cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, which killed some 1,200 people by Israeli tallies and saw 251 hostages abducted into Gaza.

The Israeli campaign has since killed more than 53,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, and devastated the coastal strip. Aid groups say signs of severe malnutrition are widespread.