Medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) (MSF) called on the EU to exert pressure on Israel to allow unfettered humanitarian access to Gaza and end the “slaughter” of the Palestinian population, AFP reports.

MSF made the appeal in a letter to the EU’s top officials and its 27 member states, whose foreign ministers are to address the conflict on Monday next week.

The open letter shared at a Brussels news conference called for an immediate end to the withholding of aid on security grounds, which MSF said amounted to “collective punishment — a war crime”.

The group further called for steps to boost medical evacuations, saying around 13,000 people, including more than 4,500 children, were in urgent need.

Read more here.