By Manal Abdel Fattah
The German envoy for humanitarian aid in the Near and Middle East, Daiki Butzel, confirmed that Berlin opposes Israel carrying out a comprehensive military operation in Rafah and that the German government is aware of the Israeli government’s decision to carry out this operation.
She added that this opposition to the operation was confirmed during the meeting of the European Union as well as the G7 industrialized countries, demanding that Israel take into account during its implementation of this operation not to target civilians and reduce human losses.
She indicated that Germany decided to resume its cooperation with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) after the results of investigations by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, demanding that UNRWA adopt the necessary reforms in its work, noting that Berlin is the second largest donor to UNRWA, as it supported Its activities in Gaza and the West Bank amounted to 455 million euros.
She confirmed that the German government is calling on the Israeli government to allow more humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, as well as to allow the repair of water lines, noting that Israel has allowed the entry of some trucks carrying goods commercially.
She said that Germany allocated 4.5 billion euros during the period from 2018 to 2024 to support humanitarian aid in the Middle East region, including the humanitarian response to the situation in Gaza, adding that her country allocated 255 million euros for aid in the Gaza Strip since last October, pointing out that the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has visited the region six times, including four times during the current war in Gaza.
She explained that Berlin is contributing to delivering necessary aid to the Palestinians through airdrops, as German planes made 24 flights, stressing the need to provide protection for international and local relief workers in the wake of the attack on World Central Kitchen relief workers, and to provide a safe working environment.
She explained that Israel is conducting investigations into the World Central Kitchen attack, and two officers in the Israeli army have been laid off, expressing her expectation that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza will continue even if the war stops, because it requires reconstruction, the provision of development cooperation, and great efforts to return the situation to normal, and this takes time.
