Herzog to Scholz: ‘Prime objective’ of war in Gaza is to free hostages

The “prime objective” of the war in Gaza is to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas since October 7, President Isaac Herzog tells German Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz in Jerusalem.

“This is a supreme humanitarian challenge. We have people from 1-year-old all the way up to 85 years-old, including Holocaust survivors. We have people who are in dire physical situations. We have young soldiers and young women, and we are extremely worried about each and every one of them, every moment of the day,” Herzog says in a statement head of the meeting.

The president also accuses Tehran of being behind the conflict, which he calls “a war waged by the proxies of Iran in our region.”

“It affects all households in the world because of the Houthis disturbance to the high-seas and the transportation of goods and services in the Red Sea and the Middle East. Of course it has to do with our situation, vis-à-vis Lebanon and predominantly, it’s a war that was waged by the coalition of Iran. And that is why the coalition that objects to Iran must support Israel in achieving full victory,” he says.

The German chancellor says he hopes that talks in Qatar to secure a temporary ceasefire and hostage release deal will bear fruit.

“I also would like to underline that getting the hostages released is the first and most important question, so hopefully we will get some progress with the talks going on in Qatar, and that this is a chance, the hostages have to be released. Too many have suffered there for a long time — a very, very difficult life and we have to do all we can to help them to get out of there,” he says.

Scholz also mentions “the need for humanitarian aid in Gaza, which I think is improving, but there is still a lot of things to do, because we need more aid, more humanitarian aid getting there.”

“Israel is a state that has to be safe, and we will support Israel living in peace and will work for the safety of Israel as much as we can,” he adds.