Middle East updates: Germany pledges more aid for Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was "exactly inaccurate" that an agreement on a cease-fire in Gaza and a hostage-release deal was close to reaching a breakthrough.

"There's not a deal in the making," Netanyahu said Thursday in an interview on "Fox and Friends."

The statement was at odds with comments from the US government that only disagreements on "implementing details" of a cease-fire proposal need to be hammered out.

"I've heard what the prime minister said. I'm not going to get into a back and forth with him in a public setting," National security spokesman John Kirby said. "We still believe, though this is incredibly difficult ... if there's compromise, if there's leadership, we can still get there."

London-based human rights group Amnesty International called for investigations into Israel's razing of buildings and agricultural land in the eastern Gaza Strip.

"Using bulldozers and manually laid explosives, the Israeli military has unlawfully destroyed agricultural land and civilian buildings, razing entire neighbourhoods, including homes, schools and mosques," Amnesty said.

The group said that an Amnesty investigation showed "newly cleared land along Gaza's eastern boundary, ranging from approximately 1 to 1.8 km (0.6 to 1.1 miles) wide."

It said that more than 90% of buildings within the area had been destroyed.

"Our analysis reveals a pattern along the eastern perimeter of Gaza that is consistent with the systematic destruction of the entire area," said Amnesty senior director Erika Guevara-Rosas.

"The homes were not destroyed as the result of intense fighting. Rather, the Israeli military deliberately razed the land after they had taken control of the area," she added.

She said that the creation of a "buffer zone" in eastern Gaza amounted to collective punishment of Palestinian civilians.

Israel has said that its demolition of buildings in Gaza is necessary to destroy tunnels and militant infrastructure used by Hamas and other groups.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that Berlin plans to increase humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip by €50 million ($55 million).

She made the announcement at a meeting with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi in Amman.

Baerbock said that the total amount pledged by Germany for the Gaza Strip since last year is over €360 million.

The focus of the aid package is combating hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition, as well as the provision of health services.

Germany will also increase humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees in Jordan by €12.7 million, raising Berlin's aid to Jordan to €63 million for 2024.

Before her trip to Jordan, Baerbock visited Saudi Arabia for talks with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud. She is also scheduled to visit Israel and the occupied West Bank during her Middle East tour.

The chief of staff of Egypt's army, Ahmed Khalifa, visited the country's border with Gaza to inspect the security situation there, a spokesman said.

The Egyptian military published a video showing Khalifa speaking with soldiers on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing.

The visit comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Israeli will not give up control of the Philadelphi Corridor the strip of land lies along the Egypt-Gaza border.

Egypt has mediated negotiations between Israel and Hamas alongside Qatar and the United States. Cairo has repeatedly rejected an Israeli troop presence at the Rafah crossing and has demanded that Israel withdraw from the area.

Hamas‘ lead negotiator, Qatar-based Khalil al-Hayya, urged Washington to put more pressure on Israel.

"If the US administration and its President (Joe) Biden really want to reach a ceasefire and complete a prisoner exchange deal, they must abandon their blind bias towards the Zionist occupation and exert real pressure on Netanyahu and his government," the Hamas official said.

Months of talks mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt have so far failed to produce a cease-fire and hostage release deal.

Hamas and Israel have blamed each other for breakdowns of talks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Israel keep control of the Philadelphi Corridor along Gaza's border with Egypt, something analysts say is a problematic sticking point in negotiations.

Diplomatic sources told DW correspondent Nina Haase that German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock stressed to Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud that efforts to establish a two-state solution in Israel and the Palestinian territories should be maintained.

The German minister arrived in Saudi Arabia earlier on Thursday and will later travel to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Baerbock urged the countries not to throw away the "historic chance" for Israel to normalize relations with its neighbors.

Israel normalized its ties with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates in 2020 and with Morocco in 2021. US-promoted efforts to achieve normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel were put on ice after Hamas' attacks on Israel on October 7 and Israel's subsequent offensive in the Gaza Strip.

The two ministers also discussed peace efforts related to Russia's war in Ukraine.

Last year, Saudi Arabia hosted talks on resolving the war in Ukraine in the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah. Russia was not invited to the summit.

Palestinians gathered at medical centers in the south of the embattled Gaza Strip on Thursday to have their children vaccinated against polio.

It marks the start of the second stage of a vaccination campaign that has so far seen 187,000 youngsters inoculated, according to the UN's Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA.

The UNRWA said the campaign, brought about after Hamas and Israel agreed on limited pauses in their fighting, had thus far been successful but complex.

On Thursday, vaccinations began in Rafah and Khan Younis, the agency said.

"The #polio vaccination campaign has moved to #Gaza southern areas today. @UNRWA teams are in Khan Younis this morning, working with partners to provide the vaccine to children," UNRWA said in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter.

"At this critical time, area pauses must be respected to protect families and humanitarian workers."

Hamas said Thursday there was no need for a revised cease-fire plan, arguing that Israel should agree to a US proposal that the Palestinian Islamist group had already accepted.

The United States is expected to present a new cease-fire proposal in the coming days aimed at breaking a deadlock between Hamas and Israel amid the war in Gaza.

In a statement, Hamas said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was trying to thwart an agreement by insisting that Israel will not pull out of the Philadelphi corridor on southern Gaza's border with Egypt.

"We warn against falling into Netanyahu's trap and tricks, as he uses negotiations to prolong the aggression against our people," the Hamas statement said.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, said Hamas was blocking progress. "We're trying to find some area to begin the negotiations," he said.

"They [Hamas] refuse to do that [... They said] there's nothing to talk about."

Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by the German government, the EU and the US, among others.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has arrived in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, for the first leg of her Middle East tour.

Baerbock landed in Riyadh shortly before 2200 GMT/UTC Wednesday night and is set to meet with the country's foreign minister on Thursday morning.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Kathrin Deschauer said Baerbock and her Saudi counterpart, Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, will discuss "the dramatic situation in the region."

The pair will also discuss strikes by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Red Sea — one of the world's most important shipping routes. 

Baerbock is then due to travel to Jordan to meet with the country's top diplomat to discuss coordinating humanitarian aid to people in Gaza, according to Berlin.

She is scheduled to meet with Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Defense Minister Yoav Galant on Friday. She then travels to the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported early Thursday that an Israeli drone strike had killed five men and wounded another in a car in Tubas in the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it carried out "three targeted strikes on armed terrorists that posed a threat on the soldiers," without elaborating.

For more than a week, hundreds of Israeli forces have been carrying out the deadliest operation in the occupied West Bank since the Israel-Hamas war began.

The Israeli military has said militant groups in the West Bank have strengthened and carried out attacks against Israeli forces and civilians over the past year.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock reiterated her position that Israeli freedom can only be guaranteed if Palestinians live with security and dignity.

Negotiations to bring about a cease-fire ought to continue despite the added difficulty of Israel having recovered the bodies of six hostages killed in Gaza, she said in a statement.

"It is horrific that six further hostages have been murdered in captivity. The Hamas terrorists will stop at nothing, no matter how atrocious the act," Baerbock said before leaving for Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. "That is why, as difficult as it is, all efforts must continue to be directed towards a humanitarian cease-fire leading to the hostages' release — and to an end to the dying. After all, there is no military solution either for Gaza or for the situation in the West Bank.

"The Palestinians have a right to live in security and dignity. Negotiations on a two-state solution are the only option for lasting peace," Baerbock added. "Those members of the Israeli government who call into question the two-state solution with their words and deeds are jeopardizing Israel's long-term security."

rm/sms (Reuters, AFP, AP, DPA)