Chancellor Olaf Scholz has lobbied Egypt and Jordan for support in evacuating civilians from the Gaza Strip and providing aid amid growing fears that the conflict between Hamas and Israel will continue to escalate.
With many Palestinians trapped in Gaza due to a planned Israeli offensive against Hamas and all supplies cut off to the area by the Israelis, the chancellor held talks on Wednesday with the president of neighbouring Egypt, Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in the area.
“We’re working together to provide humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip as soon as possible”, Scholz promised after meeting Al-Sisi in Cairo, stating that it was a joint goal to “mitigate the suffering of civilians”.
Egypt has been reluctant to open its border to Palestinian refugees, with Al-Sisi remaining sceptical after the meeting, as he warned of “the risks connected to this”.
The situation heated up further on Tuesday night following a deadly explosion at a Gaza hospital, with Israel and Hamas blaming each other. At the same time, Hamas’ allies in the region weighed in.
“What is happening now in Gaza is an attempt to force civilian residents to take refuge and migrate to Egypt, which should not be accepted,” Sisi said.
He thus echoed the statement of the Jordanian king, Abdullah II, whom Scholz met in Berlin on Tuesday ahead of his trip to the Middle East.
Jordan, another neighbouring country, already hosts one of the largest share of refugees in the world due to the conflict in Syria.
“No refugees to Jordan and no refugees to Egypt as well – this is a situation that has to be resolved within Gaza and the West Bank,” Abdullah II told reporters after talks with Scholz.
Nevertheless, Scholz remained confident on Wednesday that joint diplomatic efforts with the United States would lead to a timely resolution.
Due to Germany’s historical connection to Israel, the matter has been a major priority for the chancellor, who became the first head of government to visit Israel after Hamas’ attack on Tuesday for meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and regional actors.
While the German government emphasised its solidarity with Israel in the first days after the attack, remaining largely silent on the situation of Palestinian civilians, Scholz has grown noticeably concerned about Gaza.
There are fears that Hamas might use Palestinians as “human shields” during an Israeli offensive, co-opting civilian casualties to drag allies such as Iran into the conflict.
Following the hospital explosion, Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant Shia organisation allied with Hamas, called for a “day of rage” against Israel on Wednesday.
“I want to urgently warn Hezbollah and Iran again not to join the conflict,” Scholz thus pleaded after the meeting with Al-Sisi.
Germany was using “several channels” to make sure “those who [this warning] is meant for” would hear it and stay out, Scholz previously revealed.
(Nick Alipour | Euractiv.de)
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Source: euractiv.com
