Prime Minister Netanyahu defends the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip against international criticism. He calls the German Chancellor a"good friend of Israel" and offers an explanation for the latter's partial ban on arms exports.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attributes the German government's decision to partially halt arms exports to public pressure from media reports about the situation in the Gaza Strip. He believes Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) is"a good friend of Israel," Netanyahu said at a press conference in Jerusalem."But I think here he gave in to the pressure of false television reports and the internal pressure of various groups," he added.
Merz contradicted such assessments."I'm not as impressed by public pressure as I am by my own image, by the cabinet deliberations, and by the consultations with our experts," the Chancellor said in an interview with ARD's "Tagesthemen."
Merz announced on Friday the decision to suspend the delivery of weapons that could be used in the Gaza Strip. A few hours earlier, the Israeli security cabinet under Netanyahu had approved the plan to capture Gaza City. The plan is controversial because more than a million Palestinian civilians are believed to be living there. At the same time, the Islamist Hamas militants are said to still have bases and positions there.
Netanyahu defends plans to take Gaza city
Netanyahu further stated that the Israeli military would create"safe corridors" for the civilian population to leave Gaza City before the military operation began. The civilians would be allocated safe zones in the Gaza Strip where they would be provided with"food, water, and medical assistance." Israel "does not want to occupy the Gaza Strip, but to liberate it from Hamas terrorists," he added.
Netanyahu declared that his country had no choice"but to finish the job and completely defeat Hamas." "Our goal is not to occupy Gaza; our goal is to liberate Gaza." There is a "fairly tight timeline" for the next steps. The goals include the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip,"overarching security control" by the Israeli military, and a non-Israeli civilian administration.
In an initial reaction on Friday, Netanyahu accused Germany of rewarding the Islamist Hamas with the partial arms export ban."Instead of supporting Israel's just war against Hamas, which has perpetrated the most horrific attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Germany is rewarding Hamas's terrorism with an arms embargo on Israel," said the statement issued by his office after speaking with Merz by phone.
dpa/AP/ceb/gub
