BERLIN — Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Wednesday that Israel’s raids 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 called on “all sides” in the conflict to “show restraint, respect humanitarian law and return to talks” after hundreds were killed by Israeli strikes on Gaza.
“The lives of dozens of hostages, including Germans… [and] of many thousands of Palestinians” depend on peace, she said.
“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 said.
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 militant group Hezbollah. — Agence France-Presse
