BRUSSELS — European Union countries are moving toward agreeing a plan to punish Israel over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza but stopped short of triggering the penalty at a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday.

The European Commission has proposed partially suspending Israel’s association agreement with the EU, to curtail the country’s access to a key research and development program for start-ups. The plan comes in response to a Commission review that found Israel was in breach of its human-rights obligations under the terms of the deal.

EU countries’ ambassadors discussed the Commission’s proposal at a meeting Tuesday but there was no qualified majority in favor of pressing ahead with it now, according to three diplomats speaking to POLITICO on condition of anonymity because the matter is sensitive.

Germany’s support is seen as critical, the diplomats said, and Berlin is growing closer to supporting such a sanction against Israel, amid harrowing reports from Gaza of Palestinians suffering starvation and violence.

But German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has not yet given his backing to launching the EU’s sanction.

Work on the Horizon suspension proposal will continue with officials in Brussels looking to win more support for the plan in the coming days and weeks. There is a chance that with staff in the EU’s institutions and embassies taking vacations in August a final decision may not be reached until after the summer, the diplomats said.