The European Union's executive body recommended on Monday curbing Israeli access to its flagship research funding programme after calls from EU countries to increase pressure on Israel to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Multiple EU countries said last week that Israel was not living up to its commitments under an agreement with the European Union on increasing aid supplies to Gaza and asked the Commission to put concrete options on the table.

The European Commission on Monday proposed suspending Israel’s access to EU funding for tech start-ups, as pressure increases over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. The move by Brussels comes as a string of EU countries push for concrete steps against Israel in the face of growing fears of mass starvation in the war-ravaged territory.