Germany 'must spare no effort on path towards two-state solution' for Israel and Palestine: Foreign minister

By Aysu Bicer

LONDON (AA) - German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock underscored the critical need for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a statement Sunday, asserting that Israelis and Palestinians can only live side by side in peace "if one's security equals the other's."

“This can only be achieved when everyone is willing to acknowledge the others‘ suffering. We must spare no effort on the path towards a two-state solution," she said on X.

“For this to happen, there must be no more threat from Gaza to Israel's existence. Hamas must lay down its weapons and Hezbollah and the Houthis must cease their dangerous provocations. Palestinians direly need the chance for a life in safety, dignity and self-determination,” she added.

Israel has launched air and ground attacks on Gaza following a cross-border incursion by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, killing at least 22,800 Palestinians and injuring more than 58,400 others.

Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave's infrastructure damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicines.

Tensions have flared along the border between Lebanon and Israel amid exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and the Lebanese Hezbollah group in the deadliest clashes since the two sides fought a full-scale war in 2006.

Yemen’s Houthi rebel group has significantly stepped up its involvement in the conflict in the Gaza Strip by targeting what they say are Israel-bound vessels in the southern Red Sea. It said the attacks aim to support Palestinians under Israel's "aggression and siege" in Gaza.