European Parliament President spoke strongly against Hamas on Wednesday as she urged people to avoid trying to justify violence in Israel by pointing to the past.

“This is not the time for whataboutism,” Metsola told a crowd in Brussels. “This is terror in its worst form.”

Metsola was leading a solemn moment in front of the European Parliament building, flanked by fellow EU presidents Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen.

In a brief speech, Metsola described Hamas as a terrorist organisation guilty of “appalling acts of terror”.

“They do not represent the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people. They do not offer solutions, they offer bloodshed,” she told the crowd, noting how militants had killed civilians, including children, and “paraded dead people through the street like trophies”.

Europe was willing to help broker peace, she said, telling Israel’s ambassador to the EU that “we stand with you”.

Agius Saliba: We should condemn both sides

The EP president’s stance contrasted significantly to that adopted by fellow Maltese MEP Alex Agius Saliba, who made it a point to avoid attending the solemn moment and said he did so because he wanted solidarity with all sides afflicted.

“Had the European Parliament president placed Palestinian, Israeli and European flags next to each other and appealed for peace across the region, I would have been the first to take part,” he wrote on Facebook.

“While I unreservedly condemn the attacks by terrorist group Hamas, I can never approve the massacre that the Israeli state is conducting on innocent Palestinians, especially those caught within the Gaza strip,” Agius Saliba continued.

Wednesday’s solemn moment comes as violence in the Middle East entered a fifth day after a surprise attack by Hamas militants on Saturday led to Israel declaring that it is “at war”.

Both sides have reported well over 1,000 victims having been killed by the other. News headlines have been filled with stories of atrocities on both sides – from Hamas terrorists opening fire on festival-goers, to the Israeli army reducing entire apartment blocks to rubble and cutting off water and food supplies for 2.3 million people in Gaza.

The EU response has been muddled: it first announced that it would be freezing all aid to Palestine, only to change course one day later, when its top foreign policy official, Josef Borrell, said the “overwhelming majority” of EU states were in favour of continued support.