Germany says renewed Gaza strikes are ‘shattering’ hopes for peace

Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock says that Israel’s renewed airstrikes on Gaza “are shattering the tangible hopes of so many Israelis and Palestinians of an end to suffering on all sides.”

Speaking before starting a trip to Lebanon, she calls on “all sides” in the conflict to “show restraint, respect humanitarian law and return to talks.”

“The lives of dozens of hostages, including Germans… (and) of many thousands of Palestinians” depend on peace, she says.

“The resumption of hostilities also puts at risk the positive efforts of Arab states who want to chart a peaceful path for Gaza, free from Hamas,” Baerbock says.

Germany’s top diplomat said she was appealing “in particular to the USA to use its regional influence… now, because the security of the wider Middle East is affected by this.”

The US has backed Israel’s decision to resume its aerial campaign in Gaza, saying that Hamas bears full blame for the airstrikes after the terror group rejected a bridge proposal put forward by US special envoy Steve Witkoff to extend the ceasefire by several weeks.

She also warned that there was “a serious risk of wider regional escalation” at a time when “the situation in Lebanon has stabilized and there have been steps towards settling the conflict at the Israeli-Lebanese border.”

Baerbock will hold meetings with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, both of whom took office this year in the wake of a war between Israel and Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.