German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Wednesday confirmed the departure of more than 200 Germans and their family members from the Gaza Strip.
“This gives hope in the midst of the terrible situation in Gaza,” the minister said on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, while in Tokyo for the G7 summit.
“Many thanks to our partners in Egypt for their support,” Baerbock added.
The German government will continue to work “until every German who wants to leave the country can do so,” she said.
Baerbock arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday evening for a meeting of the G7 foreign ministers.
Baerbock once again called for humanitarian ceasefires in the Gaza war to alleviate the plight of civilians there.
“The images from #Gaza leave no one indifferent,” she wrote on X, “which is why I am campaigning so strongly in favour of humanitarian ceasefires.”
The German minister said she had “held countless meetings and talked to all partners about how we can finally get humanitarian ceasefires underway, both in terms of time and geography.”
“It must now become concrete,” she added.
The people in Gaza need water, bread and medical care.
The most seriously injured must be treated, Baerbock said.
The G7 foreign ministers discussed the war in the Middle East and the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip over dinner on Monday evening, but did not make an official statement.
The G7 includes Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Canada, the U.S., and the UK.
In the Gaza war, both the Islamist Hamas and Israel are accused of serious violations of human rights.
The Gaza Strip has been almost completely sealed off by Israel since fighters from the Islamist extremist movement Hamas launched an unprecedented assault on Israeli border communities on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,400.
The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza since the start of the war on Oct. 7 rose to 10,328, the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry said on Tuesday, saying that thousands of women and young people were among those who have died in Israel’s retaliatory air and ground attacks. (dpa/NAN)
