The European Union accuses Israel of “disproportionate force.”

The European Union accused Israel on Friday of a disproportionate use of force against Palestinians in Gaza and of making a humanitarian crisis there worse.

It was the first time the 25-nation bloc had made such a sharp criticism of the Jewish state in the crisis triggered by the abduction of Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit from a border post by Palestinian Islamic militants on June 25.

“The EU condemns the loss of lives caused by disproportionate use of force by the Israeli Defense Forces and the humanitarian crisis it has aggravated,” Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said in a statement on a visit to St Petersburg.

Kofi Annan accuses Israel of “disproportionate force.”

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - UN chief Kofi Annan called for an immediate stop to what he called Israel’s “disproportionate use of force” in Gaza but also pressed for the release of an Israeli soldier snatched by Palestinian militants.

“I call again for an immediate halt to the disproportionate use of force by Israel, which has already killed and wounded many civilians, for the release of Israeli army corporal Gilad Shalit and for the cessation of rocket fire into Israel,” he said in a statement issued in Berlin and released here.

Meanwhile, Corporal Gilad Shalit is still at the mercy of terrorists who may kill him at any time. And the rockets keep falling.

On Friday, numerous Kassams were launched into the western Negev, falling near several kibbutzim, including Sa’ad, Nahal Oz, Gevim and the southern development town of Netivot. The total number of Kassam rockets that hit Israel on Friday was 17, Army Radio reported.