Baerbock: release of hostages is grounds for hope
Three more Israeli hostages have been released; one of the men is married to a German-Israeli woman. The foreign minister reacted with relief.
Berlin (dpa) - Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has welcomed the release by Hamas of three more Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip. “This is grounds for joy and gives hope,” the minister wrote in a post. “At the same time, it is intolerable that Hamas once again paraded the three men in public last month and forced them to give ‘interviews’.”
She wrote that her thoughts were particularly with Raz Ben Ami, the German-Israeli wife of released hostage Ohad Ben Ami - who herself had been abducted to the Gaza Strip and was released in November 2023. “14 months after her own release, she can finally hold her husband Ohad in her arms again,” Baerbock wrote.
She thanked the mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the USA. “Now we need to continue our joint efforts to reach the next agreements so that all hostages are released and the region can finally find peace,” she added.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz again voiced support for a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians: “There must be a prospect of peaceful coexistence,” Scholz said in an interview.