Israel is threatened with a retaliatory strike from Iran – and says it is prepared for any scenario. Can escalation in the Middle East be averted? The news at a glance.
Israel says it is prepared for a possible retaliatory strike by Iran. “A direct Iranian attack will require an appropriate Israeli response against Iran,” Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant said in a conversation with his US counterpart Lloyd Austin, the Israeli government announced.
Austin reassured Galant of “ironclad U.S. support for Israel’s defense in the face of growing threats from Iran and its regional proxies,” according to the Pentagon. As the Wall Street Journal reported, citing an unnamed source, Israel is preparing for an attack by Iran on the south or north of Israel, which could occur “in the next 24 to 48 hours.”
Foreign Office: Germans should leave Iran
The Foreign Office in Berlin has asked all German nationals in Iran to leave the country. At the same time, it warned against traveling to Iran. “The current tensions in the region, particularly between Israel and Iran, pose the risk of a sudden escalation,” the Foreign Office said on Friday evening. Accordingly, the security situation can deteriorate quickly and without warning. “It cannot be ruled out that air, land and sea transport routes could also be affected by an escalation, with corresponding possible impairments of travel to and from Iran,” it said.
Diplomatic efforts to de-escalate
After more than six months of the Gaza war, there is no end to the conflict in sight. Instead, the conflict threatened to spread to other countries in the region. After a suspected Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy compound in Syria on April 1, threats from Tehran towards Israel recently increased. The attack was like an attack on Iranian territory and Israel must be punished, Iran’s head of state Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has expressed concern about a possible impending retaliatory attack by Iran on Israel. The situation is being taken “very seriously,” said Scholz after a meeting with the new Georgian Prime Minister Iraqi Kobachidze in Berlin. Both he and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) did everything they could to make it clear to Iran “that there should not be (…) any military activity here.”
USA increases military presence
In view of the possible retaliation, the USA is increasing its military presence in the region. A US defense official confirmed this to the German Press Agency. “We are deploying additional assets to the region to strengthen regional deterrence efforts and increase force protection for U.S. forces,” the official said.
The US Embassy in Israel issued a security warning for its employees in light of the threats. For reasons of caution, US government employees and their family members are prohibited from traveling outside the metropolitan areas of the cities of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Beer Sheva in the south of the country until further notice, the US Embassy in Jerusalem announced on its website with.
Meanwhile, Lufthansa extended the suspension of planned flights to and from the Iranian capital Tehran. “Due to the current situation, after careful evaluation, Lufthansa is suspending its flights to and from Tehran until Saturday, April 13th,” said a company spokesman in response to a dpa request.
Biden warns Iran
US President Joe Biden has warned Iran about the threat of retaliatory strikes against Israel. When asked by a journalist in Washington what his message was to Iran, Biden said: “Leave it.” The US President said he expected an attack to happen “sooner rather than later”. But he did not want to comment on intelligence information.
At the same time, the 81-year-old made it clear that he was on Israel’s side. “We are committed to the defense of Israel,” he emphasized. “We will help defend Israel, and Iran will not succeed.” In view of Iran’s possible retaliatory strike against Israel, the US had previously announced that it would increase its military presence in the region.
Hamas: Ceasefire needed to find hostages
Meanwhile, fears are growing in the Gaza war that more Israeli hostages could be dead in the contested coastal area than previously thought. The fate of the abductees can only be determined during a ceasefire, said Basem Naim, a member of the political bureau of the Islamist Hamas, in a statement distributed on Telegram.
Part of the negotiations is to reach an agreement on a ceasefire “to allow sufficient time and security to collect final and more accurate data on the captured Israelis.” Naim was responding to questions from media representatives as to whether Hamas had rejected the latest US proposal because it could not release 40 hostages in a first phase.
According to media reports, the first phase of a three-stage agreement called for the release of women, soldiers, men over 50 and men under 50 with serious medical problems. However, in recent negotiations, Hamas stated that it did not have 40 living hostages from these categories. The abductees are in various locations in the embattled Gaza Strip and in the hands of various groups, Naim said in the statement. Some of them are also lying “under the rubble” along with killed Palestinians, said the senior Hamas official. “We are negotiating to get heavy equipment for this purpose.”
Negotiations are underway to return to northern Gaza
Israel had previously assumed that almost 100 of the approximately 130 hostages remaining in the sealed-off coastal area were still alive. According to media reports, the US compromise proposal was presented at the negotiations in Cairo. The proposal called for Hamas to release 40 of the hostages in exchange for 900 Palestinian prisoners during a six-week ceasefire.
Israel should in turn allow up to 150,000 displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza. Hamas insists on a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops. Israel retains the option of continuing fighting after a ceasefire until complete victory over Hamas.
US development agency assumes famine in the Gaza Strip
Meanwhile, the head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) assumes that there is already famine in parts of the Gaza Strip. At a hearing in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US Congress on Wednesday, Samantha Power was asked whether this assessment was particularly true for the north of the sealed-off coastal area. She answered “yes.”
According to US media, Power is the first US government representative to publicly confirm this assessment. The official classification as a famine means that at least 20 percent of the population is affected by an extreme lack of food. Israel is heavily criticized internationally because of the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.
According to Israeli authorities, the contents of around 600 trucks carrying relief supplies have piled up across the border with the coastal area over the past week. In recent days, the amount of aid delivered through the Kerem Shalom and Nitzana border crossings has increased significantly, said the Israeli Cogat authority, which is responsible for contacts with the Palestinians and humanitarian aid.
However, the collection and distribution of relief supplies by the UN organizations made slow progress. “We have extended operating hours and we have allocated additional resources for security checks – now it is your turn to do your job. The bottlenecks are not on the Israeli side,” the Israeli authority said in a statement. The information could not initially be independently verified.
Disagreement over the application for full UN membership for Palestinians
Meanwhile, a UN Security Council committee has been unable to agree on a common response to a renewed application for full membership of the state of Palestine in the United Nations. Two-thirds of the members supported the motion and five had objections, said Malta’s UN ambassador, Vanessa Frazier, who currently chairs the committee, after a meeting in New York.
It said it would disseminate a report on this among the members of the Security Council as soon as possible. It is unlikely that the committee will then recommend a vote on the application. Of the 193 UN member states, 139 have so far recognized Palestine as an independent state. Germany is not one of them.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
