BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission will propose sanctioning extremist Israeli ministers and a partial suspension of the European Union’s association agreement with Israel, targeting trade-related matters, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.

“What is happening in Gaza has shaken the conscience of the world,” von der Leyen said in a State of the Union speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, acknowledging divisions within Europe on how to move forward and pledging that the commission will do what it can on its own.

A suspension of the trade chapter of the agreement would withdraw trade preferences for Israeli products to enter the EU market and would require a qualified majority vote among EU governments, according to a July options paper

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