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Israel on Wednesday announced its rejection of an EU decision to review the bloc’s cooperation deal with Tel Aviv in a bid to pressure Israel to end its deadly and intensified offensive in Gaza.

“We completely reject the direction taken in the (EU) statement, which reflects a total misunderstanding of the complex reality Israel is facing,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said on X.

He blamed the Palestinian Hamas group for the continuation of the Gaza war, claiming that Israel “agreed time and again to the American proposals to a ceasefire and to the release of the hostages."

On Tuesday, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the EU will review a pact governing its political and economic ties with Israel due to the "catastrophic" situation in Gaza.

"It is clear from today's discussion that there is a strong majority in favor of review of Article Two of our Association Agreement with Israel. So we will launch this exercise," Kallas told a press conference after an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels.

In the past few days, the Israeli army intensified its air assaults in Gaza, killing more than 500 Palestinians and injuring hundreds of others.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing nearly 53,600 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.