Germany threatens measures as situation in Gaza worsens

Thousands of Palestinians rushed into a new aid distribution centre run by a US-backed group in southern Gaza on Tuesday, AFP journalists reported, leading to chaotic scenes as Israel implemented a new distribution system.

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Germany's foreign minister threatened unspecified measures against Israel on Tuesday and said Berlin would not export weapons used to break humanitarian law, as he and Chancellor Friedrich Merz delivered their most severe rebuke yet over Gaza.

Speaking to broadcaster WDR, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul warned Germany's historic support for Israel must not be instrumentalised, as massive air strikes and shortages of food and medicines had made the situation in Gaza “unbearable.”

Earlier, Merz criticised air strikes on Gaza as no longer justified by the need to fight Hamas and “no longer comprehensible,” in comments at a press conference in Finland.

The incident in Rafah came days after the partial easing of a total aid blockade on the territory that Israel imposed since March 2, leading to severe shortages of food and medicine.

According to the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) normal operations resumed following the incident.

“I was standing in the line at an aid distribution point in Rafah with hundreds of citizens, and suddenly a large number of people started pushing and entering randomly,” Ayman Abu Zaid, a displaced Gazan, told reporters.

“It was because of the lack of aid and the delay in distribution, so they tried to get in to take whatever they could.”