Berlin - Germany on Monday defended Israel's military action
in Gaza, saying it was taken to protect the country's civilian
population from missile attacks by Palestinian militants.
The decision by the radical Hamas movement to end a six-month
truce with Israel and continue firing rockets at the Jewish state was
to blame for the crisis, government spokesman Thomas Steg said.
'It is the legitimate right of Israel to protect its civilian
population and to defend its territory,' Steg told a press briefing
in Berlin.
He called on Hamas to cease firing Kassem rockets and mortar
shells at Israeli towns and villages immediately so that Israel can
end its military operation.
More than 300 Palestinians have been killed and many more wounded
since Israel launched air strikes in the enclave on on Saturday,
eight days after Hamas ended the truce. Israel said hundreds of
rockets had been fired at its villages since the truce ended.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the situation in Gaza
during a lengthy telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert on Sunday evening, the government spokesman said.
The prime minister told the chancellor that Israel's air strikes
were directed against terrorist targets and not against Gaza's
civilian population, Steg said.
Merkel urged Olmert to ensure that steps were taken to avoid
civilian casualties and allow urgently needed humanitarian supplies
across the border into Gaza, he added.
Steg said the conflict could only be resolved through a political
process at the end of which there was a two-state solution.
On Sunday, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier
discussed the deteriorating situation by telephone with European
Union foreign policy supremo Javier Solana and Czech Foreign Minister
Karel Schwarzenberg, whose country takes over the rotating EU
presidency on Thursday.
The trio called for steps to ensure the crisis does not
worsen.
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