{"id":288627,"date":"2025-07-24T19:01:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T19:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/288627\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T19:01:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T19:01:12","slug":"germany-says-israel-violating-law-of-war-in-gaza-but-refuses-to-sign-ceasefire-letter-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/288627\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany says Israel \u2018violating law of war\u2019 in Gaza but refuses to sign ceasefire letter \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israel<\/a> is violating the law of war<\/a> in Gaza<\/a>, a senior Berlin official has conceded, while insisting Germany<\/a> won\u2019t be the 29th signatory to a letter demanding Israel \u201cend now\u201d its military action.<\/p>\n

Amid reports of an imminent ceasefire, J\u00fcrgen Hardt, foreign policy spokesman for the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU), argued the letter was \u201calready being used by Hamas and other parts of the Arab world for propaganda purposes\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat doesn\u2019t need to happen with German assistance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

However, Mr Hardt admitted German officials no longer believe that Israel is doing everything it can to allow enough humanitarian aid into Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tend towards the view that they are clearly doing too little,\u201d he said, \u201cand that would be in contradiction to the obligations Israel has under the law of war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chancellor Friedrich Merz<\/a> has shrugged off demands that Germany sign the letter and insisted it echoes a recent, critical EU statement he helped devise \u2013 and signed.<\/p>\n

Since taking power in May, Mr Merz has adopted more critical language, distancing himself from the idea of \u201cunconditional support\u201d for Israel from Berlin.<\/p>\n

In Thursday\u2019s Zeit weekly, German foreign minister Johann Wadephul declined to say whether Berlin had carried out a promised review of weapons deliveries to Israel. However, he said he was anxious to keep open diplomatic channels to his Israeli opposite number, Gideon Sa\u2019ar.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have the feeling that I get through and, though I\u2019m not yet happy with that, what we have achieved between the EU and Israeli govermment is a start,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In his Berlin ministry, meanwhile, protest is growing \u2013 led by younger diplomatic staff, demanding action to follow critical words.<\/p>\n

Reportedly at least 150 diplomats have taken the unusual step of forming a protest group under the motto \u201cloyal, conforming\u201d. A foreign ministry spokesperson confirmed the existence of the group, with members mostly under 40 years old. <\/p>\n

When they presented their arguments at a ministry staff meeting earlier this month, attended by the minister, attendees say they were \u201cgreeted with applause\u201d.<\/p>\n

As well as a tougher approach to Israel, the group is demanding the creation of a \u201cdissent channel\u201d in the ministry, where staff can air protest to official policy line without fearing consequences.<\/p>\n

Their protest echoes demands by Germany\u2019s junior coalition partner, the centre-left junior Social Democratic Party (SPD), to sign the international letter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reports of starving children and a rapidly-escalating famine show we have reached the much-vaunted \u2018point of no return\u2019,\u201d noted two senior SPD officials in a letter to Mr Merz and Mr Wadephul.<\/p>\n

Opposition Green politician Katharina Dr\u00f6ger accused the German government of being all talk and no action: \u201cIf Friedrich Merz means it with his [critical] words, then Germany should sign the statement\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israel is violating the law of war in Gaza, a senior Berlin official has conceded, while insisting Germany…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[2000,299,1945,10982,1824,837,20418],"class_list":{"0":"post-288627","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-friedrich-merz","11":"tag-gaza-strip","12":"tag-germany","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-israel-hamas-conflict"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114909759628764125","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}