Criticism adds to international outrage over Tel Aviv’s plans for new Gaza offensive and West Bank settlements
Criticism adds to international outrage over Tel Aviv’s plans for new Gaza offensive and West Bank settlements
Israel is “killing all prospects” for peace in the Middle East, Jordan’s foreign minister has said amid escalating international outrage over Israel’s plans for a new large-scale offensive in Gaza City and its intention to massively expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Ayman Safadi made his remarks during a visit to Moscow on the same day that the Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, approved a plan to conquer Gaza City, an urban area that is home to hundreds of thousands of people in the north of the Palestinian territory.
Echoing the sentiment, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said that the proposed new Gaza offensive would lead to “true disaster” and drag the region into “permanent war”.
Katz’s announcement, which will lead to the mobilisation of an extra 60,000 Israeli troops, was also condemned by Germany, historically one of Israel’s closest allies in Europe, which said it “rejects the escalation” of Israel’s campaign in Gaza.
Germany said it found it “increasingly difficult to understand how these actions will lead to the freeing of all the hostages, or to a ceasefire”, the government spokesperson Steffen Meyer told reporters.
Katz announced that he had approved the plan to conquer Gaza City despite the decision earlier this week by Hamas and other Palestinian factions in Gaza to accept a ceasefire proposal which in most of its most significant details aligns with a proposal already previously agreed by Israel. Israel has yet to formally respond.
