Leaders of France, Germany & Britain endorse calls for ceasefire in Gaza

Jerusalem: The leaders of France, Germany and Britain in a joint statement have endorsed the latest push by mediators United States, Qatar and Egypt to broker an agreement to end the 10-month Israel-Hamas war. They also call for the return of scores of hostages held by Hamas and the “unfettered” delivery of humanitarian aid. Mediators have spent months trying to get the sides to agree to a three-phase plan in which Hamas would release the remaining hostages captured in its October 7 attack in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel and Israel would withdraw from Gaza. Talks have been expected to resume Thursday.

The statement was signed by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. It also called on Iran and its allies to refrain from any retaliatory attacks that would further escalate regional tensions after the killing of two senior militants last month in Beirut and Tehran.

The German government says Chancellor Olaf Scholz has appealed to Iran’s new president to do everything to prevent a further military escalation in the Middle East.

Scholz spoke by phone Monday with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and “expressed his great concern about the danger of a regional conflagration in the Middle East”.

The government did not say who initiated the call. It said Scholz made clear that “the spiral of violence in the Middle East must now be broken”.

Scholz also underlined his call for a cease-fire agreement for Gaza to be finalized. His office said that “would be an important contribution to regional de-escalation”.

The Israeli military says a strike on a school-turned-shelter over the weekend killed 31 Palestinian militants. Gaza’s Health Ministry said the pre-dawn strike on Saturday in Gaza City killed at least 80 people and wounded dozens more, without saying if any were fighters.

Israel previously released the names of 19 people it said were Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants killed in the strike. On Monday, it released the names of another 12. The military also has disputed the Health Ministry’s toll.

Hamas and Palestinian activists have disputed the military’s account, saying at least two of the people it identified as militants were killed in earlier strikes and that others were civilians. Northern Gaza, including Gaza City, has been surrounded by Israeli forces and largely isolated.

It is not possible to independently confirm the accounts from either side. The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza says Israeli strikes over the past 48 hours have killed 142 people and wounded 150 others.

The fatalities announced on Monday bring the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 39,897 since the start of the war, according to the ministry. It says over 92,000 people have been wounded. The Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, maintains detailed records and its casualty figures from previous wars have largely matched up with those of independent experts, the United Nations and even Israel’s own figures.