Live Blog – Netanyahu’s new speech: The Israeli counterattack on Gaza is only the beginning

“We are all Israelis these days,” Foreign Minister Annalena Borbuck said during her meeting with her Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen in Netivot near the Gaza Strip earlier today. Mr. Cohen responded, saying: “Thank you for your support and solidarity with the State of Israel.” During her visit, Ms Burbock had to be carried to safety when the alarm went off. He is scheduled to head to Cairo later tonight.

“In these terrible days, we stand with you and sympathize with you. In these days we are all Israelis. I want to express the deepest solidarity of the German government, but also of the people,” said Burbock, who during her stay in Israel also met relatives of Germans kidnapped by Hamas. The two ministers also visited a residential building that was hit by a missile during the attack, killing an elderly man, his son, and his grandson.

The Israeli Foreign Minister said: “Thank you for your presence in these difficult times to show support and solidarity with the State of Israel,” stressing that Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, is “worse than the ISIS terrorist network.”

“Peaceful coexistence with Hamas is impossible. “One cannot even call them animals,” he added, referring to the atrocities that took place last Saturday. Mr. Cohen also pointed to the “very clear” support offered by Chancellor Olaf Scholz: “The Jewish people and their citizens “Israel and the whole world say: ‘It will never happen again!’” In scenes like this, where children are taken into a room and killed.

Accompanied by her counterpart, Ms. Burbock visited the operations center where she was briefed on the Hamas attack that killed more than 1,200 people. Last Saturday was the bloodiest day for Jews since the end of the Holocaust. Then the minister appeared shocked, with tears in her eyes from the pictures she saw. “It’s the worst thing you can do to someone.

We are here not just as diplomats and foreign ministers, but as mothers and fathers, daughters and sons. “If someone sees the pictures and imagines they are his daughters… I don’t know how you would find the strength to stand here,” she said in a broken voice to her counterpart as Mr. Cohen and the Israeli military spokesman, Aris, looked on. Shalikar, who was born in Germany, was shown at a site in southern Israel where Hamas rockets have caused massive destruction.

Annalena Burbock said, addressing Hamas: “Release these innocent people, innocent children!” The release of the hostages, as she revealed, was the main topic of her meeting yesterday in Berlin with the Emir of Qatar, Al Thani. “We are in discussions with all actors in order to make clear that all German hostages will be released, as well as anyone else. He noted that Israel has the right – but not the obligation – to release its citizens, adding that Hamas “is hiding behind civilians, its tunnels and command centers.” “Its are deliberately located in schools and hospitals.”

He added that Hamas, with its terrorism in Israel, “bears full responsibility for this terrible situation – and for the situation of Palestinian civilians in Gaza,” warning other terrorist groups not to get involved: “It is important to prevent other actors in the region, such as Hezbollah, from adding fuel to the fire.” . Addressing the Israelis, she emphasized: “We promise to stand by Israel. Whatever the Israelis need, we will do.”

According to the German delegation, during her visit to Israel, Annalena Borbock was transferred to a “safe place” where she sounded the alarm about a missile attack. The Foreign Minister is scheduled to travel later tonight to Cairo to hold talks with the Egyptian leadership about the latest developments and efforts made to free the hostages.

In Egypt, Ms. Boerbock is traveling on a smaller German Armed Forces plane, on which the Airbus that arrived in Israel will be used to repatriate 80 Germans. They will be accompanied by an official from the Crisis Management Team of the Federal Foreign Office.