Western capitals on Saturday roundly condemned a wave of Palestinian attacks on Israel – a sharp spike in violence that has been surging for two years.
Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Palestinian militant group Hamas has “launched a war against the State of Israel”, adding that “troops are fighting against the enemy at every location”.
“This horrific violence must stop immediately. Terrorism and violence solve nothing. The EU expresses its solidarity with Israel in these difficult moments,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Hamas contributes to “the intensification of violence”, adding Israel “has our full solidarity” and “the right, guaranteed by international law, to defend itself against terrorism”.
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France expressed “full solidarity with Israel and the victims” and underscored “its absolute rejection of terrorism and its commitment to Israel’s security”. French President Emmanuel Macron said he “firmly condemns” the attacks.
Italy also backed “Israel’s right to defend itself” against the “brutal attack”.
Britain’s foreign minister James Cleverly condemned the “horrific attacks” and underlined Israel’s right to self-defence.
Dutch PM Mark Rutte said: “Appalling images from Israel. Terror organisation Hamas is waging an unprecedented attack on Israel… This violence must stop; Israel has every right to defend itself.”
Spain said it was “shocked by the indiscriminate violence” of the attacks on Israel while Ukraine and the Czech Republic said they backed Israel’s right to defend itself.
Calls for ceasefire
Meanwhile, Russia’s foreign ministry on Saturday called for Israeli and Palestinian forces to stop armed hostilities.
“We call on the Palestinian and Israeli sides to immediately ceasefire, renounce violence, show the necessary restraint,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
Zakharova called the parties to set up “a negotiation process aimed at establishing a comprehensive, lasting and long-awaited peace” with the help of the international community.
The long-lasting conflict between Israel and Palestine “cannot be solved by force, but only by diplomatic means,” Zakharova said.
She said Moscow was standing by its position in favour of negotiations “for the creation of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, living in peace and security with Israel.”
Earlier Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov urged restraint from all parties.
“We are now in contact with everyone. With the Israelis, Palestinians, Arabs,” Bogdanov told Russian private news agency Interfax.
“This is an unexpected aggravation. If we had expected it, we would not have allowed it,” he said.
By Joshua Odeyemi with agency reports
