The lack of a unified EU response to the war in Gaza has highlighted divisions among member states' foreign policies, which will complicate the bloc's plans to play a meaningful role in the conflict and may further complicate efforts to maintain unity in support for Ukraine. On Oct. 26-27, leaders from the European Union countries met in Brussels for a two-day summit that focused on the Israel-Hamas conflict and the bloc's continued support for Ukraine in its war against Russia, as well as migration, external relations and a proposed increase to the bloc's long-term budget. At the end of the first day, EU member states issued a joint call for "pauses for humanitarian needs" in the Gaza Strip. EU diplomats spent days debating the exact phrasing of the final text amid divisions among member states on whether to emphasize Israel's right to self-defense against Hamas or stressing the need to protect Palestinian civilians. The call for humanitarian pauses (as opposed to "pause" in singular) was effectively a compromise meant to signal support for short breaks in fighting to allow for humanitarian aid or hostage releases rather than a formal ceasefire. Divisions among EU leaders also emerged on the question of future military aid to Ukraine, with Hungary and Slovakia opposing a €50 billion aid package for Kyiv that requires unanimity, resulting in the postponement of the decision until December.

Divergent national interests, historical experiences and public opinion sensitivities about the Israel-Palestine conflict have long divided EU member states' position on the issue. The summit was the first meeting of EU member states' leaders since the Palestinian militant group Hamas' surprise Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which prompted Israel to heavily bombard and blockade the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip. While all member states condemned the attack and backed Israel's right to defend itself, divisions started to emerge as the death toll from Israeli airstrikes increased. On the one hand, countries including France, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Ireland endorsed calls from the United Nations to pause the conflict for humanitarian reasons. On the other hand, countries such as Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and other Eastern member states argued that a sustained cessation of hostilities could hinder Israel's ability to defend itself against Hamas. These rifts mirror profound, longstanding divisions within the bloc (as well as within member states themselves) on the Israel-Palestine issue. 

• EU member states can be divided into roughly three groups concerning their stance on the Israeli-Palestinian question. Countries such as Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Spain and Sweden are among those usually most critical of Israel, often stressing issues related to human rights and international law, and are thus largely seen as pro-Palestinian. The second group, including Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania and Bulgaria, tend to be more supportive of Israel. The third group, which includes countries such as France, Germany and Italy, normally seeks a balanced and productive relationship with both Israel and Palestine. Still, the EU as a whole has maintained a no-contact policy with Hamas since 2003, when the group was included in the EU list of terrorist organizations.
• These long-standing stances on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are the result of multiple factors. For instance, Germany's support for Israel is motivated by its history, namely the atrocities that it committed against Jews during World War II. At the same time, this stance is counterbalanced by a large Muslim minority living in the country. Other EU countries have energy and defense agreements with Israel, like Greece and Cyprus, which influence their stance on the conflict. Some eastern European countries, like Romania, see supporting Israel as a way to express closer alignment with the United States, while some others, like Hungary, may seek to obstruct EU policy towards Israel-Palestine as a way to impair EU foreign policy decisions amid frictions with Brussels. In some other EU countries, domestic politics are also playing a role in shaping their stance on the current crisis. For instance, in Spain, the left-wing Sumar party is demanding the Spanish Socialist Workers Party of incumbent Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to support Palestine in order to form a coalition government. In contrast, right-wing governments in Italy and Sweden have also recently moved the two countries closer to Israel.

Internal divisions regarding the Israel-Hamas war are undermining the European Union's attempts at presenting itself as a cohesive and strategically minded geopolitical actor. The summit sought, and largely failed, to portray an image of unity within the European Union concerning the Israel-Hamas conflict while reiterating the bloc's commitment to supporting Ukraine against Russia despite renewed attention to the unfolding situation in the Middle East. The dispute on the exact phrasing of a call for humanitarian pauses confirmed divisions among EU member states' foreign policies that unity behind Ukraine had managed to conceal over the past year and a half despite some internal dissent. This failure to speak with one voice confirms Brussels' limits in shaping the EU's foreign policy, undermining the bloc's attempts at portraying itself as a cohesive and strategically minded geopolitical actor. Difficulties in reconciling different member states' stances on the Israeli-Palestinian issue means the bloc will likely continue to play a marginal role in the crisis, particularly as a likely escalation of Israel’s ground invasion into Gaza will further exacerbate EU internal tensions. This will further limit the EU's capacity to influence the future of the conflict, help de-escalate tensions and promote its preferred outcomes, such as a two-state solution. As for the war in Ukraine, while a deal for the €50 billion EU aid package is still possible by the end of the year, the situation in the Middle East will risk diverting attention and resources away from Ukraine, particularly if the conflict escalates beyond Gaza, making it harder for Brussels to achieve consensus among member states for other large packages of financial and military support to Kyiv. Finally, the crisis in the Middle East is also aggravating divisions between the European Union (as well as the West more broadly) and the Global South, as well as between the bloc and its Southern Neighborhood (North Africa) for what is perceived in many countries as a double standard in supporting both Ukraine and Israel. This will further complicate Western efforts to expand international cooperation behind economic sanctions against Russia by alienating countries in the Global South, especially in the Islamic world.

• The European Union's political unity in support of Ukraine has been remarkable since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. Despite long and difficult debates preceding every decision, as well as a number of setbacks posed by Hungary's vetoes, the bloc managed to pass eleven packages of sanctions against Russia, coordinate the absorption of millions of Ukrainian refugees, navigate an energy crisis caused by Russia's cutoffs in natural gas supply and steadily increase military and economic aid to Kyiv. The European Union has also successfully reopened enlargement discussions and initiated a process to welcome Ukraine as a new member in the future.
• In 2019, Ursula von der Leyen promised she would lead a "geopolitical Commission" as she took office as the new European Commission President. However, despite remarkable action taken in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the EU's limited role in the Hamas-Israel conflict, as well as Azerbaijan's occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave in September despite EU peacemaking efforts, a lack of progress in repeated EU attempts to broker a normalization deal between Serbia and Kosovo, and fading relevance of the new intergovernmental forum bringing together the European Union and its neighbors known as European Political Community (EPC) highlight the challenges for the bloc to act as a meaningful foreign policy actor on the global stage, or even in its immediate neighborhood.
• The European Commission still hopes to convince Hungary to drop its veto against further aid packages to Ukraine by releasing part of the country's EU funds that are currently frozen over an ongoing rule of law dispute and to overcome objections of the new Slovakian Prime Minister Rober Fico by the end of the year. However, growing internal divisions on the Gaza war may complicate efforts to maintain EU unity on other issues as well, including Ukraine, by exacerbating divisions among member states and increasing the costs of achieving consensus. 
• A final decision on the bloc's budget update, which includes aid packages to Ukraine, is due by the end of the year. Finding an agreement will be key to ensuring continued military and financial support to Ukraine, as current EU funding for Kyiv is set to expire in 2024.