German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) expressed shock at the images of starving Israeli hostages disseminated by the radical Islamist Hamas. "I am appalled by the images of Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski," Merz told the "Bild" newspaper on Sunday. "Hamas is torturing the hostages, terrorizing Israel, and using its own population in the Gaza Strip as a human shield."
"Precisely for this reason, there is no way around a negotiated ceasefire," Merz emphasized. "The release of all hostages is a mandatory prerequisite for this." Hamas, however, must then "play no role in the future of Gaza."
French President Emmanuel Macron also reacted with horror to the "unbearable images" of the emaciated hostages. The images showed the "vile cruelty" and "boundless inhumanity" of Hamas, Macron declared on the online service X. He emphasized that the immediate release of all hostages still held in the Gaza Strip was an "absolute priority" for his government.
Hamas and its allied group Islamic Jihad had distributed three propaganda videos of the hostages held captive since October 2023. One of the videos shows the emaciated 24-year-old David seemingly digging his own grave in a narrow tunnel. Other footage shows Braslavski, a German-Israeli, forced to watch news videos about the Palestinian famine in the Gaza Strip.
In his response to the videos, Macron, like Merz, emphasized that Hamas must not play a role in the political solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. "We demand the total demilitarization of Hamas, its complete exclusion from any form of government, and the recognition of Israel by the State of Palestine," the French president declared.
On the issue of a Palestinian state, however, France and Germany are pursuing diverging approaches. Macron has announced his intention to recognize a Palestinian state during the UN General Assembly debate in September. Other Western states have also announced this or stated that they are considering the possible recognition of a Palestinian state.
The German government, however, is not planning such a step for the time being, but considers the recognition of a Palestinian state to be sensible only as the result of a negotiation process that has yet to be completed.
In his response to the hostage videos, Merz also called on the Israeli government on Sunday not to reciprocate Hamas' cynicism. Israel must "continue to provide humanitarian aid" to the population in the Gaza Strip, he told Bild. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (CDU) visited Israel and the West Bank on Thursday and Friday and then briefed the Chancellor on his trip on Saturday.
The German government noted over the weekend that it has made "initial, slight progress in humanitarian aid" for the people in the Gaza Strip. However, this is "far from sufficient to alleviate the emergency." The German government emphasized in a statement that Israel "continues to have an obligation to ensure comprehensive supplies, including with the support of the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations."
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