German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had to take cover in a bomb shelter in the German embassy as a missile alarm sounded during his visit to Tel Aviv, Haaretz reported on Tuesday. Scholz had to stay there for a few minutes, the report said, adding that several muffled explosions from the Iron Dome missile defense system could be heard in the center of the city.
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Scholz landed in Israel on Tuesday afternoon for a solidarity visit after Hamas carried out the deadliest attack on the Jewish state on October 7. He held a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We feel the terrible grief of all Israelis whose parents, siblings, and children were killed in this barbaric attack,” he said.
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“We share the unbearable worry of all those whose family members were taken from their everyday lives and brutally abducted. Among the abducted are also Germans and our focus is on them and on all the other hostages. We are working hard to secure their release.”
The German Chancellor then warned other countries against joining the war against Israel. “I explicitly warn that no actor should think it a good idea to intervene in this conflict from the outside. It would be a serious, unforgivable mistake,” he said in an apparent reference to Iran, which has been backing Hamas and has warned Israel against making ground invasion of Gaza.
“In recent days we have conveyed that message via various channels to all those concerned. Even in extreme situations, our actions are based on the rule of law,” the chancellor said.
Netanyahu said that the responsibility for the civilians who are there in Gaza sits squarely on the shoulders of Hamas. “They’re committing a double war crime: attacking civilians, hiding behind civilians as human shields. The entire world should condemn it and should support Israel in its just war.”
Netanyahu said that Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas wanted to eradicate the State of Israel. “The open goal of Hamas is to kill as many Jews as they could and the only difference is, they would have killed every last one of us, murdered every last one of us if they could. They just don’t have the capacity but they murdered an extraordinary 1300 civilians which in American terms is like many, many, many 9/11s.”
