German chancellor advocates ‘humanitarian pauses’ instead; Grant Shapps notes civilians were also killed in WWII Dresden bombings; EU blasts Hamas’s use of human shields
https://www.timesofisrael.com/germa...asefire-uk-defense-chief-defends-idf-efforts/German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Sunday he opposed an “immediate” ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, as calls multiply globally to halt the conflict triggered by Hamas’s devastating onslaught on Israel.
Meanwhile, the UK’s defense secretary hailed Israeli efforts to protect innocent civilians during the conflict and defended the military’s ongoing operation, while the EU’s foreign policy chief released a statement condemning Hamas’s use of human shields in the enclave.
Israel has relentlessly pounded the Hamas-ruled enclave and sent in troops on a mission to eliminate the terror group since the terror group’s deadly October 7 assault on southern Israel.
“I don’t think the calls for an immediate ceasefire or long pause — which would amount to the same thing — are right,” Scholz said in a debate organized by the German regional daily Heilbronner Stimme.
“That would mean ultimately that Israel leaves Hamas the possibility of recovering and obtaining new missiles,” he added, calling instead for “humanitarian pauses.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Sunday he opposed an “immediate” ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, as calls multiply globally to halt the conflict triggered by Hamas’s devastating onslaught on Israel.
Meanwhile, the UK’s defense secretary hailed Israeli efforts to protect innocent civilians during the conflict and defended the military’s ongoing operation, while the EU’s foreign policy chief released a statement condemning Hamas’s use of human shields in the enclave.
Israel has relentlessly pounded the Hamas-ruled enclave and sent in troops on a mission to eliminate the terror group since the terror group’s deadly October 7 assault on southern Israel.
“I think Israel is obviously in a difficult place because when they go after the terrorists, some civilians are getting caught up. No one wants to see civilian life, whether it’s an Israeli, or somebody from Gaza, taken,” he stated. “However, if Britain had been subject to an attack of terrorists coming in and murdering people, cutting off heads, and we knew where those terrorists had gone, no one would be saying to Britain, ‘just stop going after them.'”
“Those tunnels, those caves that they operate from, where all of those tens of thousands of rockets are being stored, how can we ask Israel not to go and destroy those bunkers?” he posed, referencing the network of tunnels Hamas has built underneath Gaza.
Also Sunday, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell condemned Hamas’s use of “hospitals and civilians as human shields” in Gaza, while also urging Israel to show “maximum restraint” to protect civilians from the war it is waging.
“The EU is gravely concerned about the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” Borrell said in a statement.
The appeal went out as the Israel Defense Forces conducted fierce battles with gunmen in northern Gaza in the area around Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest medical facility. Israel says Hamas’s main command center is located in tunnels under Shifa.
Footage of the area appeared to show heavy fighting in the vicinity of the hospital, with the constant sounds of gunfire and explosions. Witnesses said that airstrikes had continued in the area overnight.
“I don’t think the calls for an immediate ceasefire or long pause — which would amount to the same thing — are right,” Scholz said in a debate organized by the German regional daily Heilbronner Stimme.
“That would mean ultimately that Israel leaves Hamas the possibility of recovering and obtaining new missiles,” he added, calling instead for “humanitarian pauses.”
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Scholz’s stance clashes with that many Arab countries, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was due to meet the German leader in Berlin next week.
Palestinians flee to the southern Gaza Strip on Salah al-Din Street in Bureij, Gaza Strip, Nov. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps backed the ongoing offensive in an interview with Sky News and praised Israeli efforts to evacuate civilians from the battlefield, adding that due to Hamas’s use of human shields, innocent lives would ultimately be lost in the war.
“When Britain bombed Dresden, 35,000 people apparently lost their lives,” he said, referencing the World War II bombing of the German city. “People die in war. When you have an organization like Hamas hiding and shielding themselves with and under the civilian population it’s a sad fact that some people will lose their lives.
