“Frankly speaking, I no longer understand what the goal of the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip is,” Merz said in an interview aired on public television. “To harm the civilian population to such an extent, as has increasingly been the case in recent days, can no longer be justified as a fight against Hamas terrorism,” News.Az reports citing Politico.
Germany is one of Israel’s closest European backers, and the country’s leaders, due to the Nazi past, consider Israel’s security to be a Staatsräson, or “reason of state.” German leaders, particularly Merz’s conservatives, have been reluctant to openly criticize Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.





