German Chancellor Merz: Israeli Attacks on Gaza “No Longer Justified” as Fight Against Hamas

Berlin (Quds News Network)- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip on Monday, stating that the humanitarian toll on civilians can no longer be justified as a military campaign against Hamas.

“Frankly speaking, I no longer understand what the goal of the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip is,” Merz told broadcaster WDR in a televised interview.

“To harm the civilian population to such an extent, as has increasingly been the case in recent days, can no longer be justified as a fight against Hamas terrorism.”

“Germany must exercise greater restraint than any other country in the world in giving public advice to Israel,” Merz said. “But when borders are crossed, when international humanitarian law is really being violated, the German chancellor must also say something about it.”

In February, Merz said he would make sure Netanyahu could visit Germany despite an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over war crimes in Gaza.

As a member state of the court, Germany is required to detain suspects facing arrest warrants if they set foot on its soil, but the ICC has no way to enforce that.

Merz’s comments come as debate grows in Germany over the government’s military backing for Israel. Some lawmakers from the center-left Social Democratic Party — Merz’s junior coalition partner — are calling for an end to the country’s weapons exports to Israel.

“German weapons must not be used to spread humanitarian catastrophes and to violate international law,” Adis Ahmetovic, foreign policy spokesperson for the SPD group in the Bundestag, said in an interview with German magazine Stern.

The German government’s commissioner for combating antisemitism, Felix Klein, also said, “We must also be clear that this is no justification for everything. Starving the Palestinians and deliberately making the humanitarian situation dramatically worse has nothing to do with safeguarding Israel’s right to exist. And it cannot be the German reason for state either.”

Germany has until now refrained from joining European leaders in slamming the Israeli genocide and aid blockade in Gaza.

The leaders of the UK, France, and Canada issued a sharp warning to Israel this month. In a joint statement, they condemned Israel’s expanded attacks on Gaza and the West Bank and threatened concrete action if the offensive continues and the blockade on humanitarian aid is not lifted.

“We will not stand by while the Netanyahu Government pursues these egregious actions,” the statement said. “If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response.”

On March 2, Israel announced the closure of Gaza’s main crossings, cutting off food, medical and humanitarian supplies, worsening a humanitarian crisis for 2.3 million Palestinians, according to reports by human rights organisations who have accused it of using starvation as a weapon of war against Palestinains.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report last week warned that almost a quarter of the civilian population would face catastrophic levels of food insecurity (IPC Phase Five) in the coming months.

However, after about 80 days of total blockade and starvation and widespread international outrage, Israel announced about a week ago it will allow a very limited passage of aid trucks into the enclave through several international organizations until a new US-Israeli aid mechanism begins.

The United Nations confirmed that Israel is still blocking food from reaching starving Palestinians with only a few trucks of aid having reached Gaza.

UN secretary general, António Guterres, said on Friday that Israel had only authorised for Gaza what “amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required” to ease the crisis.

The limited number of aid trucks allowed into Gaza falls far short of meeting the territory’s vast humanitarian needs and instead serves as a “smokescreen” for Israel to “pretend the siege is over,” according to the medical charity Doctors Without Borders.

Tom Fletcher, the UN’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, issued a stark warning that 14,000 babies are at risk of dying if humanitarian aid does not reach them—a figure he described as “utterly chilling”.

In a joint statement, 23 nations—including Canada, the UK, France, and Australia—condemned Israel for allowing only very limited humanitarian aid into Gaza. The statement urged Israel to permit the entry of more aid, warning that the population is facing “starvation.” It emphasized that humanitarian assistance should never be politicized.