German Chancellor Merz blasts Israeli military operations in Gaza
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has slammed Israel's recent actions in Gaza. The military operations have been causing increasing numbers of civilian casualties.
The Israeli military announced on Monday that it had conducted airstrikes over a two-day period against more than 20 targets in Gaza, including strongholds belonging to the Islamic group Hamas.
Palestinian media outlets have reported that Israel bombed a school where a number of residents were taking shelter.
Health officials in the enclave say 38 people were killed during the previous 24 hours, due to attacks by the Israeli military.
Merz said in a TV interview on Monday that he no longer understands why Israel is harming the civilian population.
He also suggested that Israel's behavior can no longer be justified or described as a fight against terrorism perpetrated by Hamas. The chancellor indicated, however, that Germany will remain on Israel's side.
He added that the Israeli government must not do anything that its best friends are no longer prepared to accept.
German media outlets have noted that it is unusual for pro-Israel Germany to criticize the Israeli government.
Germany has taken a pro-Israel stance because of its history. The Nazis killed millions of Jews in the Holocaust during World War Two.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Times
33 minutes ago
- Japan Times
U.S. mulls giving millions to controversial Gaza aid foundation
The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former U.S. officials, a move that would involve the U.S. more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos. The sources and former U.S. officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the U.S. State Department. The plan has met resistance from some U.S. officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said. The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza's 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume. The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs. The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private U.S. security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites. On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an "economic interest" in the for-profit U.S. contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF's aid distribution hubs in the enclave. While U.S. President Donald Trump's administration and Israel say they don't finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it. The U.S. and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that. USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80% of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump's drive to align U.S. foreign policy with his "America First" agenda. One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency's dismemberment. The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF's operations for 180 days. The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The two sources said that some U.S. officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF's contractor, and violence nearby. Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said. Gaza hospital officials have said more than 80 people had been shot dead and hundreds wounded near GHF's distribution points between June 1-3. Since launching its operation, the GHF has opened three hubs, but over the past two days, only two of them have been functioning. Witnesses blamed Israeli soldiers for the killings. The Israeli military said it fired warning shots on two days, while on Tuesday it said soldiers had fired at Palestinian "suspects" advancing toward their positions.
Yomiuri Shimbun
an hour ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Cards in Deck: Trump Keeps Stack of Orders Ready to Play as Needed
Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office on May 23. Months before President Donald Trump issued a travel ban on individuals from more than a dozen countries, his team of lawyers and advisers had already started crafting the ban, a process that was underway before he stepped back into the Oval Office in January. Trump announced the proclamation Wednesday night, three days after an Egyptian man with an expired tourist visa was charged with attacking pro-Israel demonstrators in Boulder, Colorado. Trump said the crime 'underscores the danger posed to our country by foreign nationals not properly vetted.' 'We don't want 'em,' Trump said in a video announcing the ban. But a White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that Wednesday night's proclamation 'was not a direct response to' the Colorado attack. Trump was always going to implement a travel ban, his advisers say. The announcement was the latest example of how the Trump administration has dipped into its large reserve of proclamations and executive orders – many of which have been long in the making – to drive its chosen narrative, push the president's priorities and sometimes change the subject when news coverage focuses on topics that Trump officials prefer to downplay. Throughout Trump's second term, White House staff have maintained a stash of executive orders and proclamations they can deploy depending on the themes of the moment and the narratives they want to shape, a senior White House official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to talk frankly about internal strategies. Some orders are put into the calendar well in advance, the official said. Others are teed up the night before they are signed depending on impulse, political strategy and the overall mood within the White House, the official said. On this occasion, Trump invoked the recent attack in Colorado as an example of why the new measure was needed, even though Egypt is not one of the countries listed in the proclamation. Wednesday evening was the time the president and his team chose to hit the go button on the long-planned travel ban – making the announcement as Trump and his White House team were pushing Congress to embrace his sweeping One Big Beautiful Bill legislation, and as Elon Musk, who until recently was a top Trump ally, was increasing his criticism of Trump's bill. During Trump's first term, he implemented a similar travel ban just a week after taking office. It was later revoked by President Joe Biden. A number of the executive orders Trump has signed this term were written during the presidential transition. Wednesday's travel ban had been in the works since soon after Trump reentered office this January, four White House officials told The Washington Post. Broad plans to implement such a ban were underway even earlier, as Trump's lawyers crafted an executive order he signed on his first day in office, requiring the Cabinet to begin developing a potential travel ban. Some of the president's recent executive actions sat in the pile for much less time: Two other proclamations issued Wednesday night were the result of the White House quickly springing into action to seize on recent events. One restricted international students and scholars from entering the country to attend or teach at Harvard University. The other ordered the White House counsel to open an investigation into whether Biden and his staff covered up his cognitive decline. Those orders were 'new,' a White House official said. The Harvard proclamation came just days after a federal judge blocked an earlier effort by the administration to revoke the university's ability to host foreign students and scholars, a critical source of money for Harvard. The order to investigate Biden and his use of the autopen – a tool presidents have long used to sign certain documents and executive orders – followed a flurry of news coverage in recent weeks alleging Biden's cognitive state was in decline throughout his time in office. Trump has alleged without evidence that Biden's staff used the autopen to sign documents without the president's knowledge. Trump's approach to executive action has differed notably from that of his predecessors, who resorted to it at times but never with the intense frequency of Trump's first months in office. In less than five months, Trump has signed 157 executive orders and 62 proclamations, according to data from the Federal Register, a pace faster than any modern president. Trump surpassed the pace of his first term, when he signed an average of 55 orders a year, according to data compiled by the American Presidency Project. White House staff secretary Will Scharf is responsible for managing the flow of orders onto Trump's desk. When orders and proclamations are signed publicly, Scharf, standing at Trump's side, serves the role not only of a lawyer, but something akin to a game show host sidekick – placing each leather-bound order in front of Trump and announcing what every order accomplishes. Trump, meanwhile, will grab a thick black marker from a small box of them placed by his right hand, positioning himself in the stance to begin signing as Scharf gives his summary. Trump has already signed more orders than President Barack Obama in either term, and at the current clip, is likely to surpass this year Biden's sum of 162 orders over four years. Trump's use of the executive order mirrors Franklin D. Roosevelt, who signed an average of 307 orders a year during his more than 12 years in office. However, FDR also worked with Congress to implement his agenda through legislation. Trump signed just five bills into law in the first 100 days of his presidency.
Japan Today
8 hours ago
- Japan Today
Israel army announces 4 soldiers killed in Gaza, thousands more troops needed
A boy looks on as he sits between Muslim worshippers prostrating as they perform the early morning prayers for Eid al-Adha at the makeshift prayer room of the Nour mosque in Gaza City By Stuart White Israel's military announced Friday the deaths of four soldiers in Gaza, saying it needed thousands more troops to press its offensive, just as the premier's coalition faces the prospect of collapse over ultra-Orthodox conscription. News of the soldiers' deaths came as Gaza's civil defense agency reported 38 killed Friday in Israeli attacks across the territory, where Palestinians observed the Eid al-Adha holiday under the shadow of war for a second consecutive year. Military spokesman Effie Defrin said the four soldiers were killed as they "were operating in the Khan Yunis area, in a compound belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization". "Around six in the morning, an explosive device detonated, causing part of the structure to collapse," he said, adding that five other soldiers were wounded, one of them severely. The deaths bring to 429 the number of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza since the start of the ground offensive in late October 2023. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended his condolences to the soldiers' families, saying they "sacrificed their lives for the safety of all of us". Israel recently stepped up its Gaza campaign in what it says is a renewed push to defeat Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 attack sparked the war. Asked by a reporter about the issue of ultra-Orthodox conscription, which has emerged as a thorn in the side of Netanyahu's government, Defrin said "this is the need of the moment, an operational necessity". The army was short around 10,000 soldiers, he added, including about 6,000 in combat roles, adding that "tens of thousands more notices will be issued in the upcoming draft cycle". The conscription issue has threatened to sink Netanyahu's government, with ultra-Orthodox religious parties warning they will pull out of his coalition if Netanyahu fails to make good on a promise to codify the military exemption for their community in law. At the same time, much of the public has turned against the exemption amid the increasing strain put on reservists' families by repeated call-up orders during the war. In April, a military representative told a parliamentary committee that of 18,000 draft notices sent to ultra-Orthodox individuals, only 232 received a positive response. Netanyahu's office announced shortly after 1:00 am on Friday that he had met with a lawmaker from his Likud party who has recently pushed for a bill aimed at increasing the ultra-Orthodox enlistment and toughening sanctions on those who refuse. The premier's office said "significant progress was made", with "unresolved issues" to be ironed out later. Netanyahu also faced scrutiny after he admitted to supporting an armed group in Gaza that opposes Hamas. Knesset member and ex-defense minister Avigdor Liberman had told the Kan public broadcaster that the government, at Netanyahu's direction, was "giving weapons to a group of criminals and felons". The European Council on Foreign Relations think tank describes the group a "criminal gang operating in the Rafah area that is widely accused of looting aid trucks". The humanitarian situation in Gaza, meanwhile, has reached dire lows, with residents enduring severe shortages of food and other essentials, even after a more than two-month Israeli blockade on aid was recently eased. The shortages have made it all but impossible for many Gazans to celebrate Eid al-Adha, which fell on Friday and is traditionally marked with huge family meals and gifts of new clothes. Suad al-Qarra told AFP from Nasser Hospital on Friday that her son never got a chance to wear his new clothes. "He went to get dressed and there was an explosion," she said, her soft voice breaking. "I took him to the hospital and (they) found him dead." "They took the children from us," she continued. "I bought him Eid clothes yesterday and he didn't wear them, instead he wears a white shroud." In the Muslim faith, Eid commemorates the sacrifice Ibrahim -- known to Christians and Jews as Abraham -- was about to make by killing his son, before the angel Gabriel intervened and offered him a sheep to sacrifice instead. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday's strikes. Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, at least 4,402 people have been killed since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18 after a brief truce, taking the war's overall toll to 54,677, mostly civilians. © 2025 AFP
