Germany renews call for Israel to refrain from broad offensive against Rafah

BERLIN

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday renewed his call for Israel to refrain from a large-scale military offensive on the southern Gazan city of Rafah.

“We are very clearly saying that there should be no broad attack against Rafah,” Scholz told a joint press conference in Stockholm, with the leaders of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

“There are too many people living there and we have no idea how this [a broad military offensive] could happen without too many civilian casualties, which could not be accepted,” he stressed.

Scholz reiterated that Germany supports Israel in its fight against Hamas, but also underlined that Israeli army should respect international law, and protect the civilian population.

“We are so clearly saying that Israel has every right to fight back against Hamas. While saying this, we are also very clear in what is necessary to do. First, the way of doing this war against Hamas, has to follow international rule of law, and international rules, and we’re very much looking to this,” the chancellor said.

“Second, we are absolutely clear that there must be enough humanitarian aid coming to Gaza. My request was always that it should be about 500 trucks a day, every day, so that there is enough support with food, with medical aid, and all what is needed in Gaza,” he added.

Scholz also urged Israeli authorities to take the necessary steps to stop the violence by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinians.

“We were also very clear in speaking about the situation in the West Bank, saying that settlers’ violence cannot be tolerated,” he said.

The chancellor reiterated that his government supports a two-state solution, which he said can end the long-running conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, and bring peace to the region.

“Looking at the future we are very clearly saying there must be a two-state solution. So this is what we support intensely, saying that peaceful cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian state, consisting of West Bank and Gaza, is what we are aiming for,” Scholz said.

Germany has been a staunch ally of Israel, and German government officials have repeatedly said the country bears special responsibility for Israel’s security due to its Nazi past.

But the government has come under growing pressure in recent weeks due to the Israeli military’s disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force in Gaza.

In a recent poll, 69% of Germans said Israel’s military actions in Gaza are unjustified as they have claimed too many civilian victims. Only 18% voiced support for Israel.

Israel has waged a military offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas which killed less than 1,200 people.

More than 35,000 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 78,700 others injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.

Over seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of “genocide” at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered Tel Aviv to ensure its forces do not commit acts of genocide and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.