BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) has assured that her office is working around the clock to free the Germans kidnapped from Israel by Hamas terrorists. She was “in non-stop exchange with colleagues from the region, local actors who have direct channels of communication with Hamas,” she said on Tuesday evening on the ARD “Tagesthemen”. “But with a terrorist organization like Hamas, this is of course anything but easy.” The hostages would be used as human shields, “just like the civilian population on site.”
She was critical of the Gulf emirate of Qatar and Iran, which are seen as supporters of the Islamist Hamas. “Then there are countries like Qatar, where we have many, many critical questions, especially about their financing in the past,” said Baerbock. “We appeal to these Gulf states to make it clear, especially now, that terrorism has no place in the region, to influence Hezbollah, and also to influence Iran, that this terrible inhumanity must be stopped immediately.”
At the same time, the minister defended her position of checking German aid funds for the Palestinians, but not stopping them completely. It is important “that we do not stop providing food, water and humanitarian aid to the two million Palestinians who depend on it.” Because the terrorists would use that too. They played on the hardship and suffering of the population. Baerbock expressed understanding for the demands of the Central Council of Jews, for example, for a complete funding freeze. “I totally get that,” she said. But: “Even if your heart is burning, you should keep a cool head in such situations.”/and/DP/he