Skip next section Netherlands to continue to send humanitarian aid to GazaOctober 14, 2023
Netherlands to continue to send humanitarian aid to GazaThe Netherlands will continue to send humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territories, the country’s Prime Minister Mark Rutte said.
Rutte on Saturday spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank but who lost control of Gaza to Hamas after elections in 2006 and a violent struggle for power between Hamas and Abbas’ Fatah group.
Rutte expressed his sympathy for “all the innocent victims of the spiralling violence unleashed by the Hamas terror attacks.”
“We also discussed our concerns about the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. It is of great importance that the innocent residents of Gaza can obtain food, water and medical care,” Rutte wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“I assured President Abbas that the Netherlands will continue its humanitarian support to the Palestinian Territories,” Rutte said.
The European Union has forcefully condemned the terror attacks carried out by Hamas militants in southern Israel last weekend. Hamas is considered a terror group by the EU, US and others.
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said after an emergency meeting of foreign ministers earlier this week the bloc would continue to work with its partner, the Palestinian Authority (PA), which rules parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
That was to ensure humanitarian aid reaches Palestinian people. Germany has suspended development aid for the Palestinian territories but it is keeping up humanitarian help.
https://p.dw.com/p/4XXlzSkip next section Scholz, Netanyahu discuss need to prevent regional spread of conflictOctober 14, 2023
Scholz, Netanyahu discuss need to prevent regional spread of conflictGerman Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Saturday, with Scholz again assuring Berlin’s solidarity after Hamas’ terror attack.
Both leaders agreed that it was important “to avoid a regional conflagration and in particular a Hezbollah intervention in the conflict,” German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said, referring to the Islamist political and military group based in Lebanon.
Scholz also briefed Netanyahu on his other diplomatic contacts in recent days, Hebestreit said. The German chancellor had spoken with leaders from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, and is scheduled to meet the Emir of Jordan in Berlin early next week.
Hebestreit said Netanyahu also briefed Scholz on Israeli efforts to avoid harm to civilians in Gaza, but told Scholz that these “were being counteracted by Hamas.” He said both leaders were in agreement on the importance of this issue.
Scholz reiterated “Germany’s full solidarity with the people of Israel in these difficult hours and underscored that Germany stands unwaveringly by Israel’s side.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4XXZpSkip next section IDF: Israel preparing ‘coordinated attack from the air, sea and land’October 14, 2023
IDF: Israel preparing ‘coordinated attack from the air, sea and land’The Israeli military says it is preparing for an “integrated and coordinated attack from the air, sea and land” on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
In a statement issued on Saturday evening, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said: “Battalions and soldiers are deployed all over the country and are prepared to increase readiness for the next stages of the war — with an emphasis on a significant ground operation.”
It did not specify exactly when this would begin, however, amid speculation that a larger-scale attack could be imminent.
The IDF has called up over 300,000 reservists in an unprecedented mobilization since Hamas militants launched thousands of rockets toward Israel, breached border defenses and rampaged across communities of southern Israel a week ago.
More than 1,300 people have been killed in Israel, and more than 2,200 people have been killed so far in Israel’s retaliatory bombing campaign of the Gaza Strip.
Israel has ordered Palestinian civilians to evacuate the northern part of the Gaza, an order that has been condemned as impractical by much of the international community.
Earlier on Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted video footage and photographs on social media of him meeting with IDF soldiers on the front line and asking them if they were ready for the next phase of the deployment, to which they were shown nodding.
“We are all ready,” he wrote as he shared the video, but again with no details on where or when.
https://p.dw.com/p/4XXe5Skip next section German military to fly German citizens out of IsraelOctober 14, 2023
German military to fly German citizens out of IsraelThe German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, will fly German citizens out of Israel. Germany’s Luftwaffe air force confirmed earlier media reports to this effect on Saturday evening.
Two A400M military transport planes were already en route to Tel Aviv.
German commercial carrier Lufthansa has been flying Germans out of Israel on special flights this week, with more than 800 flown to Germany on Friday alone.
But the airline said on Saturday it was pausing those flights due to security issues and “unresolved questions of operational stability in Tel Aviv.”
Evacuation of German nationals from Israel underwayTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
https://p.dw.com/p/4XXcuSkip next section Germany’s Baerbock urges ‘greatest possible consideration’ for humanitarian situationOctober 14, 2023
Germany’s Baerbock urges ‘greatest possible consideration’ for humanitarian situationGerman Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has said that Israel’s fight against Hamas must take into consideration the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Speaking from Cairo, where she was holding talks with Egyptian and Turkish counterparts, Baerbock spoke about a “huge dilemma that is difficult to resolve.”
“The fight against Hamas must be carried out with the greatest possible consideration for the humanitarian situation,” she said.
Germany is looking into how humanitarian aid could be deployed to the Gaza Strip via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, saying that people there were “in need of everything at the moment.”
She also said that Berlin was trying to find a solution for German hostages held by Hamas.
Baerbock appealed to Hamas to release all the hostages abducted from Israel during its deadly October 7 attacks.
“This is about innocent people,” Baerbock said. “Their release is a humanitarian imperative.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4XXTgSkip next section US, China urge each other to push for calmOctober 14, 2023
US, China urge each other to push for calmBoth the United States and China tried to put the onus on the other to help restore calm in the Middle East, with each side urging the other to use its influence in the region to defuse the crisis.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, had what State Department spokesman Matthew Miller described as a “productive” one-hour phone call on the issue.
“Our message was that [Blinken] thinks it’s in our shared interest to stop the conflict from spreading,” Miller told reporters on Blinken’s plane from Riyadh to Abu Dhabi. “He thought it could be useful if China could use its influence.”
China has closer ties to Iran, in particular, than the US does.
Wang, meanwhile, said Washington “should play a constructive and responsible role” in the conflict.
“When dealing with international hot-spot issues, major countries must adhere to objectivity and fairness, maintain calmness and restraint, and take the lead in abiding by international law,” said Wang, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry readout.
The Chinese foreign minister added that Beijing called for “the convening of an international peace meeting as soon as possible to promote the reaching of broad consensus.” Wang said finding a two-state solution would be the “fundamental outlet for the Palestinian issue.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4XXPISkip next section Lebanese military says Israel behind Reuters photojournalist deathOctober 14, 2023
Lebanese military says Israel behind Reuters photojournalist deathThe Lebanese military has said Israeli forces launched a missile that hit a “civilian vehicle” of a media crew on Friday, killing video journalist Issam Abdallah and injuring five others.
The Lebanese army accused Israeli forces of targeting southern villages and towns, as well as an army reconnaissance tower.
Abdallah was a video journalist for the Reuters news agency. Other journalists wounded in the attack worked for media outlets including Reuters, the French news agency AFP and the Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera.
The Reuters videographer was laid to rest in his hometown on Saturday. Hundreds attended the funeral procession in the southern Lebanese town of Khiam, where the late Abdallah’s body was draped in a Lebanese flag.
Israel’s military said on Saturday it was investigating the incident.
The Reuters videographer was laid to rest in his hometown on SaturdayImage: Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu/picture alliance https://p.dw.com/p/4XXJySkip next section Hamas says 9 hostages killed in Israeli strikesOctober 14, 2023
Hamas says 9 hostages killed in Israeli strikesHamas said on Saturday that nine of the hostages it is holding have been killed in the past 24 hours in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.
The group’s military wing said four of those killed were foreign nationals. It claimed their deaths were the result of Israeli bombardment of areas where the hostages were being held.
Hamas, designated as a terrorist group in Israel, Germany, the US and the EU, did not provide any further evidence for its claims on how the hostages died.
On Friday, Hamas had reported 13 hostage deaths, also blaming the Israeli bombardment.
The Israel Defense Force (IDF) said earlier on Saturday that over 120 hostages were being held by Hamas in Gaza.
The IDF has intensified strikes on the besieged strip since the deadly terror attacks.
https://p.dw.com/p/4XXM6Skip next section Jordan, Qatar warn against Gaza displacementOctober 14, 2023
Jordan, Qatar warn against Gaza displacementJordan warned Israel that a new displacement of Palestinians would push the region to the “abyss” of a wider regional conflict.
Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi also said Israel’s blocking of humanitarian aid to Gaza and forcing its residents to leave were “flagrant” breaches of international law.
Israel has given the entire population in the north of the Gaza Strip until 4 p.m. local time on Saturday to move further south.
Safadi said Israel’s military campaign against Hamas was killing innocent civilians and would bring despair and destruction in its wake that would not bring security to Israel.
“It won’t achieve security or lead to peace,” Safadi added. “This will bring the region into the hell of war … we have to end this madness.”
Meanwhile, Qatar said it categorically rejected any attempt to forcibly displace the residents of Gaza.
A statement from the Qatari Foreign Ministry said Gulf state’s leaders “call on lifting the siege of Gaza Strip, and provide full protection for the Palestinian civilians according to the international and humanitarian laws.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4XXFmSkip next section Israel military gives Gaza residents a safe window to evacuateOctober 14, 2023
Israel military gives Gaza residents a safe window to evacuateThe Israeli military said Gaza City residents must not delay their departure before a military offensive starts.
Military spokesman Richard Hecht said there was a safe passage “window” between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. local time (0700-1300 GMT/UTC).
The safe area applies to roads along the Gaza coast and through the center of the narrow Palestinian territory, which is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) long.
Hecht didn’t say how many days the window would remain open. He told reporters: “We know this is going to take time, but we recommend people not to delay.”
People leaving the north of the territory have jammed roads toward the south, according to media reports.
Thousands of Gazans packed buses, cars and donkey carts to escape the northern zone, which Israel on Friday ordered to be cleared.
Israel has faced calls from the United Nations, the United States and the European Union to delay an expected full ground offensive in Gaza to give civilians time to leave.
https://p.dw.com/p/4XXFiSkip next section Israel, Egypt to allow foreigners to leave Gaza via Rafah crossingOctober 14, 2023
Israel, Egypt to allow foreigners to leave Gaza via Rafah crossingEgypt, Israel and the US agreed on Saturday on opening the Rafah border crossing from the Gaza Strip into Egypt, news agencies reported.
“We have been trying to facilitate access for it to be open from 12 to five today. The Egyptians, the Israelis and the Qataris have been working with us on that,” a US official was cited by the Reuters news agency as telling reporters traveling with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The Associated Press news agency said the agreement involved the passage of foreigners, citing a senior Egyptian official.
The official reportedly said that Israel has agreed not to strike areas to be used by foreigners as they make their way out of the besieged strip.
The agreement was also greenlit by Palestinian militant groups.
An official on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing said they had received instructions to reopen the crossing on Saturday afternoon to allow foreigners coming from Gaza to cross into Egypt, AP reported.
Israeli broadcaster Kan also reported on the negotiations and said they aimed to open the crossing between 5 p.m. and midnight. It is not clear whether the Rafah crossing is open yet, Kan reported.
https://p.dw.com/p/4XX6VSkip next section UN: More than 1,300 buildings destroyed in GazaOctober 14, 2023
UN: More than 1,300 buildings destroyed in GazaThousands of homes and business premises have been destroyed or made inhabitableImage: Belal Khaled/Anadolu/picture allianceMore than 1,300 buildings in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed, the United Nations said Saturday, after nearly a week of fierce bombardment by Israeli forces. Israel is carrying out an extensive aerial bombing campaign on Gaza after Hamas, the militant group based there, undertook terror attacks in Israel last weekend. These resulted in over 1,000 deaths.
The UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA said many Gaza homes were so badly damaged they were now uninhabitable.
“According to the Gaza Ministry of Public Works, 1,324 residential and non-residential buildings, comprising 5,540 housing units, have been destroyed,” OCHA said. “Another 3,743 housing units have been damaged beyond repair and rendered uninhabitable.”
A further 55,000 housing units have been partially damaged, OCHA added.
The UN has been monitoring the number of people displaced within the Gaza Strip and said that, by the end of Thursday, more than 423,000 people had been.
The Gaza Health Ministry said the death toll in Gaza now stands at 2,215.
https://p.dw.com/p/4XX0zSkip next section Germany’s Baerbock discusses crisis with Turkish counterpartOctober 14, 2023
Germany’s Baerbock discusses crisis with Turkish counterpartBaerbock also discussed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine during her discussions in Egypt with Turkey’s foreign minister Image: Florian Gaertner/photothek/picture allianceGerman Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock discussed with her Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan the latest regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict, during a visit to the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on Saturday.
Baerbock and Fidan spoke of the joint efforts to secure the release of German hostages which Hamas kidnapped as part of its October 7 terror attacks on Israel. The two top diplomats also discussed humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
The German foreign minister was previously in Israel on Friday, where she urged the hostages be released.
https://p.dw.com/p/4XX48Skip next section Saudi Arabia halts normalization talks with Israel — reportsOctober 14, 2023
Saudi Arabia halts normalization talks with Israel — reportsSaudi Arabia has put on hold its talks regarding plans to normalize relations with Israel, a source told France’s AFP news agency.
German news agency DPA also learned Saturday from Saudi diplomatic circles that talks have been put on hold.
The decision comes amid Israel’s intensified bombardment of the Gaza Strip, following Hamas’ terror attacks on Israel which killed over 1,300 people.
Discussion had reportedly been underway between Israel and Saudi Arabia to reach a normalization agreement similar to that previously agreed to by several other Arab countries. That includes neighboring Gulf countries, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
https://p.dw.com/p/4XWxHSkip next section IDF gives more instructions to Gazans on southward evacuationOctober 14, 2023
IDF gives more instructions to Gazans on southward evacuationThe Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have urged the citizens of the besieged Gaza Strip to evacuate southward, vowing to allow movement “without harm” on designated streets between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. local time (between 7 a.m and 1 p.m GMT).
IDF spokesman Avichay Adraee posted the statement in Arabic, saying the call aimed to protect the safety of the citizens.
“If you care about yourselves and your loved ones, get out toward the south, as per our instructions,” Adraee said on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter. He urged residents to move from Beit Hanoun in northeastern Gaza to Khan Younes in the south.
https://p.dw.com/p/4XWzN
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