Germany deplores fatal Israeli bombing of school in Gaza

By Oliver Towfigh Nia

BERLIN (AA) - Germany on Monday voiced major concern over deadly Israeli attacks on a school-turned-shelter in northern Gaza which left at least 43 people dead.

“We are extremely concerned about this action against the school in Beit Hanoun because there are a high number of victims and injuries,” deputy Foreign Ministry spokesman Christian Wagner told a press briefing in Berlin.

“This is part of a series of massive destruction of civil infrastructure and also high numbers of victims recently and continues. And of course that raises big questions, also with regard to the safe zones that have been designated in Gaza,” he added.

More than 110 Palestinians were reportedly killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, local authorities said.

In October 2023, Israel launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip that has so far killed nearly 45,000 people, mostly women and children.

Wagner also stressed again the “catastrophic humanitarian situation” in Gaza, calling for “the urgent” need to improve conditions.

The second year of genocide in Gaza has drawn growing international condemnation, with officials and institutions denouncing the attacks and the blocking of aid deliveries as a deliberate attempt to destroy the population.

Wagner also condemned an Israeli airstrike that killed Palestinian journalist Ahmed al-Louh and five Palestinian Civil Defense workers in central Gaza’s Nuseirat camp.

Al-Louh, who worked as a cameraman for Al Jazeera and other media outlets, was killed on Sunday in the strike on the Civil Defense post in the camp, according to medics and local journalists.

- Occupied Golan Heights and Syria's integrity

On Syria, Wagner reiterated the need to respect the country’s territorial integrity amid Israeli plans to expand settlements in the occupied Golan heights region.

“The Golan heights were occupied in 1967 and annexed in 1981. Germany does not recognize this annexation. In this respect, it is completely clear under international law that this area controlled by Israel belongs to Syria, and that Israel is therefore an occupying power in the Golan under international law,” he said, voicing a widely shared international position.

Wagner also called on Israel “to exercise restraint” in the wake of its airstrikes on Damascus over the weekend. ​​​​​​​

Israel carried out airstrikes Saturday on several locations in Syria, including the capital Damascus, Homs, and Daraa, according to sources.

Warplanes targeted the area near the Sednaya Prison, north of the capital, a site known as a torture center under the Assad regime.

They also struck a weapons depot belonging to Assad regime forces in Daraa and Homs.