”Under these circumstances, the federal government allows for the time being no export of military equipment that may be used in the Gaza Strip”, it says in a statement from Merz cited in German media.
Other international leaders are also reacting to Israel's new plan to occupy Gaza City.
”This measure will not do anything to end this conflict or to help the hostages become free”, says Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The UN's human rights chief Volker Türk is strongly critical, and demands that the plan be ”immediately stopped”.
”It goes completely against the International Court's judgment that Israel must end its occupation as soon as possible”, says Türk in a statement.
Sweden's Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard (The Moderate Party) shares the outrage.
I see with great concern the decision that the Israeli government has made, she says to SVT News.
She says that it is currently difficult to overlook what the consequences of the decision mean for the situation in Gaza.
I have previously repeated that all attempts to annex, change or reduce Gaza's territory would be in conflict with international law.
China is also expressing concern. Israel must ”immediately cease these dangerous actions”, writes a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry in Beijing. ”The Gaza Strip belongs to the Palestinian people, and cannot be separated from the Palestinian territory”.
Also, the Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares condemns the decision.
”It would only lead to further destruction and suffering”, he writes on X.
