AA / Berlin / Oliver Towfigh Nia
Germany launched, Wednesday, a warning to Israel on Wednesday against a permanent occupation of the Gaza Strip, after the Israeli Minister of Defense, Israel Katz, said that his troops would remain indefinitely in the areas of the enclave designated as “security zones”.
“The German government clearly rejects a sustainable occupation of the Gaza Strip and a permanent expulsion of the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip. Gaza belongs to the Palestinians, “said Christian Wagner, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during a press briefing held in Berlin.
“The objective of the German foreign policy is always to contribute to a solution negotiated with two states in the Middle East, because it is the only way for the Palestinians and the Israelis to live side by side in their two states permanently,” he added.
The Israeli Defense Minister had previously declared that the soldiers “will remain in the security zones to serve as a buffer between the enemy and the communities (Israeli) in any situation, whether temporary or permanent, in Gaza – as in Lebanon and Syria”.
“Unlike the past, the Israeli army does not evacuate the areas that have been evacuated and occupied,” he added.
Katz said that Israel had also extended the buffer zone north of the Gaza Strip, moving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and converting part of the territory to Israeli security zones.
He added that these measures were part of a wider strategy aimed at putting pressure on the Palestinian movement Hamas to accept an agreement on the release of prisoners.
He added that the Israeli army would continue to intensify its operations as long as Hamas would refuse the conditions laid down by Israel, “while continuing to thwart its operations and destroy its infrastructure”.
-Recently, the Israeli army has expressed forced evacuation orders for the areas of Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia in the north of the Gaza Strip, as well as for the entire city of Rafah and certain parts of Khan Younes.
On Saturday, the Israeli army said that it had completed the encirclement of Rafah and set up the Morag corridor which separates it from Khan Younes.
Israel has closed the crossing points to the Gaza Strip since March 2, preventing the entry of basic necessities into the enclave, despite the multiple information reporting in the territory devastated by the war.
More than 51,000 Palestinians, including a majority of women and children, have been killed by the Israeli war against the Gaza Strip since October 2023.
The Israeli army resumed its attacks on the Gaza Strip on March 18. Since then, she killed 1,652 people and injured nearly 4,400 others, despite a cease-fire and prisoner exchange in force last January.
Last November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu and its former Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated in the Gaza Strip.
Israel is also prosecuted for “crime of genocide” before the International Court of Justice (CIJ) because of the war waged against the Palestinian enclave.
*Translated from English by Mourad Belhaj
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