German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in a speech to the Bundestag (the lower house of the German parliament) before leaving for The Hague for the NATO summit, DPA reported, quoted by otrbTA.
Merz said that Israel has the right to defend its existence and the security of its citizens. However, he stressed that Germany has the right to question "what goal Israel is trying to achieve in Gaza".
"We also call for humane treatment of the people in the Gaza Strip, especially women, children and the elderly", Merz said.
The German Chancellor thanked Foreign Minister Johann Wadeful for "his intensive diplomatic efforts" to seek peace in the Middle East. Merz supported Wadeful's position that the European Union's withdrawal from the trade agreement with Israel over human rights violations in Gaza "is not out of the question".
Since the war in the Gaza Strip broke out after a cross-border attack by fighters from the Palestinian armed group "Hamas" on October 7, 2023. against towns and kibbutzim in southern Israel, Germany is one of Israel's fiercest supporters and one of its biggest suppliers of military aid.
French President Emmanuel Macron called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Agence France-Presse reported.
Macron, who is visiting Norway ahead of a NATO summit in the Netherlands, expressed concerns that the risk of Iran secretly enriching uranium has increased after Israeli and US air strikes on its nuclear program.
For his part, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that Iran and Israel must return to a ceasefire and reduce tensions in the Middle East, after US President Donald Trump announced earlier today that both sides had violated the ceasefire.
"I want the ceasefire to last and so obviously the sooner we return to him, the better. And that is the message that I am discussing with the other leaders today," Starmer told reporters upon arrival for the NATO summit in The Hague.
"We need to return to a ceasefire, which is consistent with what I have been saying about de-escalation for a long time," the British prime minister stressed.
The leaders of the three major European powers will talk today in The Hague before the start of the NATO summit, the Elysee Palace announced in the meantime, quoted by AFP.
According to the French presidency, the meeting between Macron, Merz and Starmer will begin at 6:15 p.m. (7:15 p.m. Bulgarian time).