BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday said a potential truce with Hamas would be “painful” for Israel but that saving hostages’ lives must now be the “top priority”.
“After many months of agonising negotiations, an agreement now seems within reach,” Scholz said as Gaza truce talks appeared to be on the verge of a breakthrough in Qatar.
“We understand how painful any agreement with the terrorist organisation Hamas is for Israel,” Scholz said. “Nevertheless, the lives of the hostages must now be the top priority.”
Qatar, Egypt and the United States have stepped up efforts to broker a ceasefire to enable the release of hostages held in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Gaza ceasefire deal close after ‘breakthrough’ in Doha
Qatar said negotiations for a Gaza truce and hostage release deal were in their “final stages” on Tuesday, adding that it was hopeful an agreement could be reached “very soon”.
Scholz said he was calling for an agreement partly because “there are numerous German nationals among the hostages” and said it would “finally alleviate the suffering in Gaza”.
A source from the foreign ministry told AFP in September that the hostages still in Gaza included “a low double-digit number of people with a German connection”.
Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack – the deadliest in Israel’s history – resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Hamas also took 251 people hostage, 94 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed 46,645 people, a majority of them civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, whose figures the UN considers reliable.
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