Germany halts military exports that could be used in Gaza, Merz says
The German government will not approve any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice, chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday in response to Israel’s plan to expand its military operations there.
Merz said it was Israel’s right to disarm Hamas and to seek the release of the Israeli hostages but “the German government believes that the even tougher military action in the Gaza Strip decided upon by the Israeli cabinet last night makes it increasingly difficult to see how these goals can be achieved”.
According to Reuters, Merz said in a statement:
Under these circumstances, the German government will not approve any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice.
The release of the hostages and negotiations for a ceasefire are Germany’s top priorities, Merz said, expressing deep concern over the suffering of civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Germany’s parliament said in June that export licences for military equipment to Israel worth €485m ($564m) were granted between 7 October 2023 and 13 May 2025, reports Reuters.
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Norway’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund will announce changes to the handling of its Israeli investments, finance minister Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday, ruling out any blanket withdrawal over the war in Gaza.
The fund itself said it would provide an update on its Israeli investments on Tuesday. The government this week launched an urgent review of the investments over ethics concerns linked to the war in Gaza and the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.
“I see several measures over time, but what can be addressed quickly, must be done quickly,” Stoltenberg told a press conference after holding his second meeting with fund officials in three days.
He did not say what these measures could be, but added that there would not be a wholesale divestment from all Israeli companies. “If we did that, it would mean we are divesting from them because they are Israeli,” he said.
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US vice-president JD Vance said the US has “no plans” to recognise a state of Palestine during a bilateral meeting with foreign secretary David Lammy at Chevening House.
He said: “Obviously the United Kingdom’s going to make its decision. We have no plans to recognise a Palestinian state.
“I don’t know what it would mean to really recognise a Palestinian state, given the lack of functional government there.”
He added that the US government’s two goals are “very simple”, saying: “Number one, it’s we want to make it so that Hamas cannot attack innocent Israeli civilians ever again, and we think that has to come through the eradication of Hamas.
“Second, the president has been very moved by these terrible images of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, so we want to make sure that we solve that problem.
“I think all of us can work on how to solve that problem. Obviously, it’s not an easy problem to solve, or it would have already been dealt with, but we share, I think, that focus and that goal. We may have some disagreements about how exactly to accomplish that goal, and we’ll talk about that today.”
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More than a hundred UK-based Israelis and allies led by the grassroots activist group Mi-neged staged a protest outside the Foreign Office on Thursday evening, calling for the UK to impose immediate sanctions on Israel and end the war in Gaza.
As civil servants and politicians left the Cabinet Office after work, 98 demonstrators raised 98 red and black globes and a large sign that read: “You let Israel murder 98 today. Each person is a world.” Other signs read “Israelis against genocide” and “stop arming Israel”.
Mi-neged recently sent UK prime minister Keir Starmer and foreign secretary David Lammy a letter signed by more than 200 Israeli citizens living in the UK.
A Mi-neged spokesperson said:
Keir Starmer says the UK might act in September. Yet every single day that passes we hear of more people killed by Israel in Gaza. Some by plane, some by bullet, some by engineered starvation. Today it was 98 Palestinians. It is impossible to fully comprehend the scale of this human-made tragedy.
We’ve come here today to physically represent this unconscionable number and to remind our representatives that every single one of those murdered in Gaza is an entire universe, as full, complex and real as they are. For more than 60,000 people it is already too late.
Starmer’s ‘threat’ that the UK will recognise Palestine has unsurprisingly had no effect, and Israel is only talking of ramping up its horrific assault with a full-blown occupation of Gaza. The UK must take immediate action to sanction Israel in ways that would impose a real cost in order to stop its genocidal destruction of Gaza and its people, and the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank.
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Updated at 15.11 BST
David Lammy said he would be discussing the “developing situation in Gaza” and the ongoing war in Ukraine with JD Vance.
Sitting alongside the US vice-president at the start of a bilateral meeting at Chevening House, the UK foreign secretary said:
Of course we will be discussing the developing situation in Gaza, which is a great concern, and of course the ongoing war in Ukraine, and the desire to see that come to an end.
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Updated at 15.12 BST
Andrew Sparrow
In a statement about the latest decision from the Israeli government, the independent MP, and former Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn has restated his claim that the UK is “complicit in genocide”.
Corbyn said:
If the government was truly horrified by Israel’s occupation of Gaza, it would stop supplying them with the weapons they need to carry it out.
The prime minister can condemn Israel’s plans all he wants. He cannot hide the truth: his government is complicit in genocide.
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Updated at 14.33 BST
Belgium FM summons Israeli ambassador, saying Gaza military expansion plans are ‘unacceptable’
Belgian foreign minister Maxime Prévot said on X that the Israeli ambassador had been summoned to express “our total disapproval of this decision”.
In a statement published to the social media site on Friday, Prévot said:
Following the Israeli government’s official confirmation of its intention to subsequently surround and occupy the city of Gaza, and take military control of the entire Gaza Strip, I have decided to summon the Israeli ambassador.
The aim is clearly to express our total disapproval of this decision, but also of the continued colonisation, in particular the resumption of the E1 project east of Jerusalem, and the desire to annex the West Bank as was recently promoted by the Knesset.
All of these actions, with a potential to wipe Palestine completely off the map, are unacceptable and contrary to international law, United Nations resolutions and the decisions of the International Court of Justice. They also pose a major risk to the Israeli hostages still being held.
We must therefore vigorously advocate for a reversal of these plans, which would permanently compromise any prospect of a ceasefire and a peaceful and lasting two-state solution, which Belgium has been insisting on for months, not to mention full free access by land for humanitarian aid.
While it is legitimate to want to destroy the terrorist group Hamas, this cannot be achieved through disproportionate operations that will further lengthen the already very long list of Palestinian civilian victims.
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Germany will not authorise any exports of military equipment that could be used in Gaza “until further notice”, Chancellor Friedrich Merz has announced.
It was a quick response by one of Israel’s strongest international backers to a decision by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet to take over Gaza City.
The move by Germany, which had previously stopped short of tougher lines against Israel’s government taken by some of its European Union allies, appears likely to further isolate Israel over the military takeover plan which has been condemned by the United Nations and supporters of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.
In a statement, Merz emphasised that Israel “has the right to defend itself against Hamas’s terror” and said the release of Israeli hostages and “purposeful” negotiations towards a ceasefire in the 22-month conflict “are our top priority”.
He added that Hamas must not have a role in the future of Gaza.
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Saudi Arabia condemns any Israeli move to take control of Gaza, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday.
The kingdom “categorically denounces Israeli occupation authorities’ persistence in committing crimes of starvation, brutal practices, and ethnic cleansing against the brotherly Palestinian people,” it said in a statement.
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Palestinians in Gaza expressed fear, frustration and exhaustion on Thursday after the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he wanted Israel to take military control of the entire Gaza Strip.
Those displaced by the fighting shared their opinions hours after Netanyahu told Fox News that Israel intended to take over the entire territory for security purposes but did not plan to govern it long-term.
He said the aim would be to eventually hand over control to Arab forces, though he gave no specifics on what that could entail.
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Hamas says Israeli takeover of Gaza City ‘means sacrificing’ the hostages
Hamas warned the Israeli government on Friday that seizing control of Gaza City would amount to “sacrificing” the hostages still being held in the Palestinian territory.
The group said that the “decision to occupy Gaza confirmed” that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government “do not care about the fate of their captives”.
Hamas added:
They understand that expanding the aggression means sacrificing them.
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The European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has called for the Gaza City takeover plan to be “reconsidered”, urging the release of hostages and immediate delivery of humanitarian aid to the territory.
In a post on X, she said:
The Israeli government’s decision to further extend its military operation in Gaza must be reconsidered.
At the same time, there must be the release of all hostages, who are being held in inhumane conditions.
And humanitarian aid must be given immediate and unhindered access to Gaza to deliver what is urgently needed on the ground.
A ceasefire is needed now.
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Despite the announcement of the Israeli plan, mediators from Egypt and Qatar are working on a new framework which will include the release of all hostages — dead and alive — in one go in return for an end of the war in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the strip, two Arab officials told the Associated Press anonymously.
The yet-to-be finalized framework aims to address the contentious issue of what to do with Hamas’ weapons, with Israel seeking full disarmament and Hamas refusing. One official, who is directly involved in the efforts, said discussions are underway about “freezing arms,” which may involve Hamas retaining but not using its weapons. It also calls for the group to relinquish power in the strip.
A Palestinian-Arab committee would run Gaza and oversee the reconstruction efforts until the establishment of a Palestinian administration with a new police force, trained by two US allies in the Middle East, to take over the strip, he said. It is unclear what role the Western-backed Palestinian Authority would play.
A senior Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to brief the media, said the group’s leadership has been aware of the Arab mediators’ efforts to revive the ceasefire talks, but has yet to receive details.
Associated Press reached out to the governments in Qatar, Egypt and Israel for comment.
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Israel’s decision to intensify its military operation in Gaza is wrong and should immediately be reversed, Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told Denmark’s TV2 on Friday.
Jordan also condemned Israel’s decision to take control of Gaza City.
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Israel’s plan to intensify operations in Gaza is “a wrong move”, Dutch foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp said on Friday.
Veldkamp said in a statement on X:
The plan of the Netanyahu government to intensify Israeli operations in Gaza is a wrong move.
The [Gaza] humanitarian situation is catastrophic and demands immediate improvement. This decision in no way contributes to this and will also not help to get the hostages home.
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Hamas calls Israel’s plan to seize Gaza City ‘a new war crime’
Hamas described the Israeli government’s plan to take control of Gaza City as a “new war crime” on Friday, warning the operation would cost it “dearly”.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the group said in a statement:
The Zionist cabinet’s approval of plans to occupy Gaza City and evacuate its residents constitutes a new war crime that the occupation army intends to commit against the city.
We warn the criminal occupation that this criminal adventure will cost it dearly and will not be an easy journey.
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Germany halts military exports that could be used in Gaza, Merz says
The German government will not approve any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice, chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday in response to Israel’s plan to expand its military operations there.
Merz said it was Israel’s right to disarm Hamas and to seek the release of the Israeli hostages but “the German government believes that the even tougher military action in the Gaza Strip decided upon by the Israeli cabinet last night makes it increasingly difficult to see how these goals can be achieved”.
According to Reuters, Merz said in a statement:
Under these circumstances, the German government will not approve any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice.
The release of the hostages and negotiations for a ceasefire are Germany’s top priorities, Merz said, expressing deep concern over the suffering of civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Germany’s parliament said in June that export licences for military equipment to Israel worth €485m ($564m) were granted between 7 October 2023 and 13 May 2025, reports Reuters.
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