Several Germans were killed by Israel in Gaza. Even though these are criminal offences, the German government does not want to prosecute them. International lawyers and the Left Party group in the Bundestag are criticising this.
Since the attack by Palestinian groups on Israel on 7 October 2023 and Israel’s subsequent war, the German government has ‘successfully supported’ the departure of 452 Germans from the Gaza Strip. However, 48 of its nationals are currently still there, the German government reported in its answer to a parliamentary question from the Left Party group in the Bundestag. At least four men have been refused permission to leave the country by the Israeli authorities. An undisclosed number of Germans have also been ‘effectively unable’ to leave the Gaza Strip since the beginning of May 2024 despite having a permit due to the closure of the borders. Their permits have now also expired.
Among others, Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens), Federal Government Commissioner for the Middle East Tobias Tunkel and the ‘management levels’ of the Federal Foreign Office and Federal Chancellery have urged ‘German nationals staying in the Gaza Strip’ to leave the country. The efforts would be continued.
In the enquiry, the Left Group also asked about injured Germans in Gaza. According to the answer, the German government does not keep any statistics on this. ‘Due to the virtual absence of state structures in the Gaza Strip’, it was accordingly also not possible to obtain information. However, the Federal Foreign Office is aware that ‘a single-digit number of German citizens have been killed as a result of the fighting in the Gaza Strip’. It does not have any reliable information, for example in the form of death certificates or official reports.
According to reports from the Israeli #972 Magazine and recently the New York Times, Israel’s Ministry of Defence has allowed up to 20 civilians to be tolerated as collateral damage for low-ranking Hamas members killed after 7 October 2023 – for commanders, this figure is said to be as high as 200. German-Palestinian nationals have also been victims of such retaliatory actions. Among them was the family of Youssef Abujadallah in the Nuseirat refugee camp on 25 October 2023. Shortly before taking up a position in an intensive care unit in Dortmund, the doctor wanted to visit his parents and siblings with his wife and four children, but was then unable to leave the country.
Targeted attacks on the civilian population are a war crime under international conventions. Despite this, the Federal Public Prosecutor General has not opened an investigation into any cases. ‘There is no initial suspicion of an offence under the jurisdiction of the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office,’ explains the Foreign Office.
German investigations into international crimes are selective, complains the Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR). Partner countries such as the USA, Turkey and Israel are not being investigated.
Left-wing politician Clara Bünger expresses a similar view: ‘With its ignorance of Israeli war crimes, the German government is doing great damage to international law as a whole. The fact that only suspects from ‘enemy states’ such as Russia or Syria under Assad are being investigated, while crimes committed by ‘friendly states’ are being overlooked, contradicts the principle of equality before the law, Bünger criticised to ‘nd’.
Published in German in „nd“.
Image: Ruins in Gaza (B’Tselem, CC-BY-4.0).
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