“Moment of significant tension”
Rockets over Gaza and Eurofighters for Saudi Arabia: That is the situation in the Middle East conflict
Smoke and rockets in the sky over Gaza City
© Mohammed Talatene / DPA
The US fears that the war between Israel and the Gaza Strip could spread. And the federal government in Berlin is making a U-turn on arms deliveries. This happened at night.
The US sees the Middle East in a “moment of significant tension” and has Israel urged to do more to protect civilians in Gaza. The World Health Organization (WHO) has been unable to carry out a planned aid mission in the north of the coastal strip for almost two weeks. Meanwhile, Israel continues attacks in the Gaza Strip and is fighting with the Hezbollah militia in the north on the border with Lebanon. The night at a glance:
Could Gaza war “metastasize”?
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned in Qatar of an escalation in the entire Middle East region. “The conflict could quickly metastasize, causing even more suffering in the region,” he said, meeting with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Doha on his fourth trip to the Middle East. Qatar had warned from the beginning of a likely and dangerous expansion of the conflict, Al Thani said. The killing of a Hamas leader in Beirut and a senior Iranian general in Syria – both allegedly ordered by Israel – should be condemned and a violation of the sovereignty of these countries.
Blinken called for Israel to better protect civilians in Gaza during its attacks there: “It is absolutely imperative that Israel do more to protect civilians.” “Far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed,” he said. He will also address this during his planned visit to Israel.
Aid supplies for Gaza are not enough
According to Blinken, aid deliveries to Gaza, where around 2.2 million people lived before the start of the war, are still “not sufficient to meet the enormous needs.” More than 90 percent of the population is affected by acute food insecurity. They would not have enough access to water, food, medicine and other essential goods.
On Monday night, the WHO reported that it had not reached the north of the Gaza Strip for twelve days. A planned mission to Al-Awda Hospital was canceled for the fourth time because security was not guaranteed, the UN organization announced on the X platform (formerly Twitter). Heavy bombing, limited movement options and interrupted communication have made it “almost impossible” to deliver medical supplies to the isolated coastal strip and especially to its north.
Israel attacks Hezbollah militia in Lebanon
The Israeli army says it has once again fired on several Hezbollah militia targets in Lebanon, which borders to the north. Air force fighter jets attacked a military facility near Marwahin and a rocket launcher elsewhere on the border, the armed forces said on Monday morning. In addition, an Israeli drone and a helicopter attacked positions from which Israel was fired upon.
Hezbollah, which is allied with the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas and Iran, and Israeli forces have repeatedly exchanged fire in recent days. In the ongoing Gaza war as a result of the bloody Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th last year, chief diplomats such as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken fear that it will spread to other parts of the region.
Israel continues to attack in Khan Yunis
Meanwhile, Israel continued its attacks in the south of the Gaza Strip on Sunday. According to its own account, the army destroyed more than 100 targets of Palestinian terrorists in the hotly contested Khan Yunis. The military said dozens of terrorists were also killed there. Soldiers destroyed tunnels, observation posts and a Hamas headquarters, which the Islamist organization also used to plan its massacre on October 7th. Extremist Palestinians fired rockets at Israel again on Sunday. Rocket alarms were triggered in border towns.
According to the health authority there, 73 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours. The authorities said 99 people were injured. It said on Sunday that more than 22,800 people have been killed and more than 58,400 others injured since Israeli attacks began in early October.
Federal government releases more Eurofighters for Saudi Arabia
According to Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, the federal government is no longer prepared to stand in the way of delivering more Eurofighters to Saudi Arabia. Baerbock announced this on Sunday evening in Jerusalem. The federal government is making a U-turn, as the coalition agreement also stipulates that Germany will not supply weapons to countries involved in the Yemen war. Saudi Arabia supports the government there against the Houthi rebels, who in turn are on the side of the radical Islamic Hamas in the Gaza war.
Baerbock said the government in Riyadh is showing its efforts for a better future in the region. She pointed out that the Saudi Air Force was shooting down rockets from the Houthi rebels in Yemen that were aimed at Israel. In this way, Saudi Arabia is making a significant contribution to Israel’s security these days and is curbing the risk of a regional conflagration. “It is precisely for this reason that we do not see that we as the German federal government are opposing British considerations for additional Eurofighters for Saudi Arabia,” said the minister. “The world, especially here in the Middle East, has become completely different since October 7th (…).”
What will be important on Monday
Baerbock wants to get an idea of the situation of the Palestinians during a visit to the West Bank. Visits to a Palestinian village and a meeting in Ramallah with Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki are planned. In the evening she wants to travel on to Egypt. Blinken also plans to visit the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank and Egypt in the coming days. In addition, attention is likely to remain focused on the fighting in the Gaza Strip.