Germany says ‘very insufficient' aid entering Gaza
The criticism came after Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul visited the region on Thursday and Friday and the German military staged its first food airdrops into Gaza, where aid agencies say that more than two million Palestinians are facing starvation.
Germany 'notes limited initial progress in the delivery of humanitarian aid to the population of the Gaza Strip, which, however, remains very insufficient to alleviate the emergency situation,' government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said in a statement.
'Israel remains obligated to ensure the full delivery of aid,' Kornelius added.
Facing mounting international criticism over its military operations in Gaza, Israel has allowed more trucks to cross the border and some foreign nations to carry out airdrops of food and medicines.
International agencies say the amount of aid entering Gaza is still dangerously low, however.
The United Nations has said that 6,000 trucks are awaiting permission from Israel to enter the occupied Palestinian territory.
The German government, traditionally a strong supporter of Israel, also expressed 'concern regarding reports that large quantities of humanitarian aid are being withheld by Hamas and criminal organizations.'
Israel has alleged that much of the aid arriving in the territory is being siphoned off by Hamas, which runs Gaza.
The Israeli army is accused of having equipped Palestinian criminal networks in its fight against Hamas and of allowing them to plunder aid deliveries.
'The real theft of aid since the beginning of the war has been carried out by criminal gangs, under the watch of Israeli forces,' Jonathan Whittall of OCHA, the United Nations agency for coordinating humanitarian affairs, told reporters in May.
A German government source told AFP it had noted that Israel has 'considerably' increased the number of aid trucks allowed into Gaza to about 220 a day.
Berlin has taken a tougher line against Israel's actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank in recent weeks.
The source said that a German security cabinet meeting on Saturday discussed 'the different options' for putting pressure on Israel, but no decision was taken.
A partial suspension of arms deliveries to Israel is one option that has been raised.
Hamas militants launched an attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, that resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel's military offensive on Gaza since then has killed at least 60,249 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry. The UN considers the ministry's figures reliable.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
31 minutes ago
- Arab News
Hamas says no special food privileges for Gaza hostages
GAZA CITY: The Palestinian militant group Hamas said Sunday that Israeli hostages would not receive any 'special privileges' in the food they are given compared to the rest of the Gazan population. '(Hamas) does not intentionally starve the captives, but they eat the same food our fighters and the general public eat. They will not receive any special privileges amid the crime of starvation and siege,' Hamas's military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, wrote in a statement. The group added that it would only allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to provide aid to Israeli hostages on the condition that humanitarian corridors are opened to Gaza. '(We) are ready to respond positively (to) any request by the Red Cross to deliver food and medicine to enemy prisoners. However, we condition our acceptance on the opening of humanitarian corridors... for the passage of food and medicine... across all areas of the Gaza Strip,' Hamas's military wing wrote in a separate statement. The response came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested that the ICRC help provide food to the hostages held in Gaza, and after the agency issued a 'call to be granted access to the hostages' in a statement posted on X.
Al Arabiya
3 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Turkey condemns Jewish prayer on Al-Aqsa Mosque compound
Ankara on Sunday blasted an Israeli government minister for conducting a Jewish prayer on the Al-Aqsa compound in east Jerusalem. In a highly controversial move, Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir publicly conducted on Sunday a Jewish prayer at the mosque's compound, which is Islam's third-holiest site, and sits on the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest place. 'We strongly condemn the raid carried out on the Al-Aqsa Mosque by certain Israeli ministers, under the protection of Israeli police and accompanied by groups of Israeli settlers,' the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement. 'The security of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the preservation of Jerusalem's sacred identity are not only regional priorities but also a primary responsibility on behalf of humanity's collective conscience,' it said. Jewish religious rituals are prohibited in the compound by a long-standing agreement between Israel and Jordan, custodian of the site. In recent years, the understanding, known as the 'status quo' has been repeatedly violated by Jewish visitors, including members of Israel's parliament.
Al Arabiya
3 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Gaza student leaves for France over antisemitic posts row
A student from Gaza who had been studying in France on a scholarship left for Qatar Sunday, ordered out over anti-Semitic comments found on her social media accounts, the foreign ministry said. Foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot 'stressed the unacceptable nature of the comments made by Ms. Nour Attaalah, a Gazan student, before she entered French territory,' said the ministry statement. 'Given their seriousness, Ms. Attaalah could not remain on French territory. She left France today to go to Qatar to continue her studies there,' it added. The young woman, who received a student visa and a government scholarship as part of a program for Gazan students, had been due to join Sciences Po Lille in the fall. She arrived in France on July 11, according to a French diplomatic source. But social media posts from the past two years calling for the killing of Jews, since deleted, were discovered. That led to a judicial investigation for condoning terrorism, and an inquiry to determine why the posts had not been detected in advance. AFP was unable to confirm the screen shots attributed to her by internet users and media outlets, but Sciences Po Lille said Wednesday that her social media comments had been confirmed, without elaborating. Barrot said Friday that France was freezing all its student evacuation programs from Gaza pending the outcome of the investigation into how the posts had been missed. The foreign ministry would not say how many students have been affected, citing privacy reasons. France has allowed in several hundred students from Gaza since the start of the war between Israel and the Hamas movement.
