The fiercest fighting in months has continued in the Gaza Strip. Foreign Minister Baerbock called for the bloodshed to stop. The UN urged Israel and the Palestinians to exercise restraint.
Germany, France, Egypt and Jordan have called for an immediate ceasefire in the face of the recent outbreak of violence between Israelis and Palestinians. “With every new day that people die, there will only be more losers and no winners. Nowhere. The bloodshed must therefore stop now,” demanded Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Berlin after a meeting with the Egyptian foreign minister as part of the so-called Munich process Samih Schukri, his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi and French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna.
Baerbock stressed that Israel’s security was a matter of state for the federal government. Like any other country, Israel has the right to defend its people against attacks. According to the official translation, her Egyptian counterpart Schukri replied to Baerbock that one could not say that one side was allowed to defend itself but not the other. Both parties are allowed to defend themselves. Schukri stressed that the Palestinians also have the right to found their own state.
All four ministers again spoke out in favor of a two-state solution as the basis for ending the conflict, i.e. an independent Palestine alongside Israel.
UN expresses “serious concerns”
The United Nations Human Rights Office was also alarmed by the escalation in the Gaza Strip. A spokesman in Geneva said there were “serious concerns” about whether the Israeli airstrikes of the past few days had taken sufficient account of civilians and were appropriate. On the other hand, indiscriminate rocket fire from the Gaza Strip against Israeli targets violates international humanitarian law. He called on all parties to de-escalate measures. All killings, especially those of civilians, should be investigated quickly and transparently.
Fighting between Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip and Israel’s army continued despite ceasefire efforts. During the night, Israeli forces reported the targeted killing of another high-ranking member of the Palestinian militant organization Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip. Sirens wailed again during the day in several Israeli cities.
Palestinian rescuers inspect a house in the southern Gaza Strip where Islamic Jihad commander Ahmed Abu Daqqa was said to have been killed in an Israeli attack.
First dead on Israeli side
For the first time, one person was killed on the Israeli side in the current fighting, as the AP and dpa news agencies report, citing Israeli information. Accordingly, a 70-year-old man died in a Palestinian rocket attack on his home in the town of Rehovot near Tel Aviv. Other people were injured.
According to the Israeli army, militant Palestinians fired more than 540 rockets at Israel in response to the Israeli attacks. Around 390 of them crossed the border. The Israeli army, in turn, justified its strikes with rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip in recent weeks.
According to information verified by the United Nations, a total of 25 Palestinians, including civilians, have died in attacks since the start of Israel’s “Shield and Arrow” military offensive on Tuesday. According to the UN, at least three high-ranking members of Islamic Jihad were among those killed.
Egypt wants to broker another ceasefire
According to media reports, an Egyptian delegation is said to have made its way to Israel today to hold talks on a ceasefire. Meanwhile, representatives of Islamic Jihad arrived in Cairo for negotiations. According to the Egyptian foreign minister, previous talks have been unsuccessful.
According to the Israeli armed forces, the attacks are aimed exclusively at Islamic Jihad. The organization is also said to be responsible for the missiles aimed at Israel. The role of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, is still unclear.
So far, Hamas, which the EU classifies as a terrorist organization, has apparently not fired any rockets at Israel itself. At the same time, their spokesman Hasem Qasim emphasized the unity of various Palestinian organizations in the fight against Israel to the Shebab news agency: “We assure our people that we have carried out this response together and in a coordinated manner because there are agreements between the various groups. And we emphasize again that that coordination and unity is one of the sources of resistance strength.”
Heaviest fighting in months
The current fighting is the fiercest in months between Israel and Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip. At the same time, the situation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has been extremely tense for more than a year. Israelis, many settlers in the West Bank, fall victim to attacks time and again, and dozens of Palestinians die in Israeli raids.
In the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel conquered the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In 2005 Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians want the territories for a separate state of Palestine – with East Jerusalem as the capital.