Check against delivery!

Good morning, bonjour, shukran.

I am in Lebanon today for my third visit in one year.

I've been in Lebanon three times this year, and this is my last visit as High Representative of the European Union [for Foreign Policy].

And I have chosen to close my mandate here in Lebanon, in Beirut, because what is going on in the Middle East, and, in particular, here in Beirut, is putting the international community at a test if we are really willing and able to make peace.

This conflict has already taken an international dimension, and the international community cannot stay idle in front of what is happening here.

The price of no peace in the Middle East has become exorbitant, unaffordable for the people dying under the bombs, for the people in Lebanon, for the region, and for the whole world.

Back in September, I came and I was still hoping that we could prevent a full-fledged war, a full-fledged war of Israel attacking Lebanon.

Two months later, Lebanon is on the brink of collapse - with the war raging in the south, where tens of villages have been fully destroyed, and with the airstrikes against Beirut and in Baalbek, and rockets flying over Tel Aviv.

The toll, the human toll, is extremely heavy. Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 3.500 people in Lebanon, more than three times the victims of the conflict in 2006, three times more.

Fifteen thousand people have been injured, and among the casualties, an incredible amount of medical workers and hospitals being hit.

Two months ago, as today, we see only one possible way ahead, an immediate ceasefire and the full implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 - an immediate and simultaneous ceasefire by all parties.

And in order to reach this ceasefire, I want to commend the efforts done by the US and by France. The European Union supports both, supports the US and supports France.

The deployment of Lebanese [Armed] Forces along the Litany River, the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters, the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the establishment of Lebanese full sovereignty by air, land, and sea.

Allow me also to commend the work done by the international [peacekeeping] mission UNIFIL. UNIFIL is playing a key role in an increasingly challenging environment. There are over 10.000 men and women deployed [with UNIFIL] in the south. Thirty of them have been injured. Four Italians only a few days ago.

The attacks against UNIFIL are completely unacceptable. UNIFIL has the strong support of the European Union, and I want also to reiterate the support to UNRWA, which is playing an irreplaceable role in Gaza, but also here in Lebanon.

The services that UNRWA provides to half a million of Palestinian refugees cannot be supplied by anyone else. And we condemn the law passed by the Israeli Knesset, and we continue urging the Israeli government not to implement this decision.

I am coming from Jordan, and I was talking with United Nations people trying to provide support to the Palestinian people in Gaza, in a desperate situation.

And I called on the international community, the whole international community, to take action to stop this war and to stop the massacre in Gaza.

Yesterday I was talking with the Secretary General of the United Nations about it, and now I repeat the call I made to him to stop the massacre in Gaza.

As the European Union, we are supporting the Lebanese people, the Lebanese army, and the Lebanese institutions. We are ready to devote 200 million euros to the Lebanese Armed Forces.

And I have asked Prime Minister [Najib] Mikati what and how we can support your army, not only financially, but also technically, and I will do the same thing to the Lebanese Armed Forces commander [Joseph] Aoun.

But the success of the effort for a ceasefire and a long-term solution are in the hands of the parties.

To expedite the solution to the war, Lebanese leaders need to take up their political responsibility by starting to elect a President and put an end to a two years long vacuum of power in Lebanon.

I discussed today with this Speaker [of the Parliament Nabih] Berri, and I want to encourage our political actors to take their responsibility towards the Lebanese people.

There is much to do on different fronts.

The Lebanese people have been showing an incredible generosity and internal solidarity, not only with the refugees of the Syrian war, not only in front of the economic crisis, not only in the explosion of the port, but now with so many Lebanese people having to escape the war from the south.

And we also offer the European solidarity. But they live every day with sadness, seeing increasing suffering in Gaza and Lebanon.

And for the families of the hostages also, it is tragic that we could not get this war to an end. But this must happen.

And let's use this tragedy that we have seen in Lebanon and Gaza in order to avoid more suffering for the people in the region.

We must pressure the Israeli government and maintain the pressure on Hezbollah to accept the US proposal for a ceasefire. This was agreed.

This proposal is pending with the final agreement with the Israeli government.

And we have to work, all the international community, to respect international law, because we see hunger [being] used as a weapon, a weapon of war, violating international law with total impunity and almost total information blackout in Gaza, with tens of journalists being killed, with tens of journalists being killed, including deliberately in Lebanon.

The decisions of the International Criminal Court, they are not political. They are fully taken in accordance with international law. It has to apply to everybody. And we strongly support the Court.

This is what I wanted to tell [you] today after discussing with Speaker Berri.

And I hope that the agreement reached on the last day with the US special envoy will be finally implemented and the ceasefire will come, and the bombardments stop taking lives in Lebanon.

Q: [inaudible …] about ceasefire?

According to my conversation with Speaker Berri, he considers that first the ceasefire has to happen. I think that every effort has to be done in order to ask for the President's direction as soon as possible, because Lebanese people need a President.

But Lebanese people need also a ceasefire. And Lebanese people have to make the sovereignty of the Lebanon in the Lebanese people's hands, not an internal power, not a state inside the state. Not anybody kidnapping the sovereignty of the Lebanese people, be it from inside or be it from outside the country.

Q: In your estimation, how likely is it that the diplomatic efforts will succeed given the current circumstances, especially the Israeli response to the American ceasefire?

Some months ago, during the United Nations General Assembly, there was an agreement to get a ceasefire Lebanon, which was subscribed by many people around the world, among them the European Union.

I was signing, I was supporting this agreement. Unhappily, at the end, it was not possible to have Israel on board. And Netanyahu's government refused this ceasefire proposal that was supported by the entire international community represented in the United Nations, among them the European Union.

It was a lost opportunity. In last two those days, the US envoy has been here in Lebanon. A long negotiation took place with Speaker Berri, and the proposal was conveyed to the Israeli government.

And at the moment, we are pending of a concrete and definitive answer from the Israeli government. Let's hope that this will make possible with the participation of the US and France as the countries that have been engaged in looking for this solution, which is on the table.

Thank you.

Watch the video here: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-264481