The quantity of aid entering Gaza stays “very insufficient” regardless of a restricted enchancment, the German authorities mentioned on Saturday (August 2, 2025) after ministers mentioned methods to intensify stress on Israel.
The criticism got here after Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul visited the area this week and the German navy staged its first meals airdrops into Gaza, the place aid companies say that greater than two million Palestinians are dealing with hunger.
Germany “notes limited initial progress in the delivery of humanitarian aid to the population of the Gaza Strip, which, however, remains very insufficient to alleviate the emergency situation,” authorities spokesman Stefan Kornelius mentioned in a press release.
“Israel remains obligated to ensure the full delivery of aid,” Kornelius added.
Facing mounting worldwide criticism over its navy operations in Gaza, Israel has allowed extra vans to cross the border and a few overseas nations to hold out airdrops of meals and medicines.
International companies say the quantity of aid entering Gaza remains to be dangerously low, nevertheless.
The United Nations has mentioned that 6,000 vans are awaiting permission from Israel to enter the occupied Palestinian territory.
The German authorities, historically a powerful supporter of Israel, additionally expressed “concern regarding reports that large quantities of humanitarian aid are being withheld by Hamas and criminal organisations”.
Israel has alleged that a lot of the aid arriving within the territory is being siphoned off by Hamas, which runs Gaza.
The Israeli military is accused of getting outfitted Palestinian felony networks in its struggle in opposition to Hamas and of permitting them to plunder aid deliveries.
“The real theft of aid since the beginning of the war has been carried out by criminal gangs, under the watch of Israeli forces,” Jonathan Whittall of OCHA, the United Nations company for coordinating humanitarian affairs, advised reporters in May.
A German authorities supply advised AFP it had famous that Israel has “considerably” elevated the variety of aid vans allowed into Gaza to about 220 a day.
Berlin has taken a harder line in opposition to Israel’s actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank in current weeks.
Germany on partial suspension of arms deliveries to Israel
The supply mentioned {that a} German safety cupboard assembly on Saturday mentioned “the different options” for placing stress on Israel, however no resolution was taken.
A partial suspension of arms deliveries to Israel is one choice that has been raised.
Hamas militants launched an assault in Israel on October 7, 2023, that resulted within the deaths of 1,219 individuals, in response to an AFP tally based mostly on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s navy offensive on Gaza since then has killed a minimum of 60,249 Palestinians, in response to Gaza’s well being ministry. The U.N. considers the ministry’s figures dependable.
