BERLIN

Some 68% of Germans rejected a military support for Israel, should the war spread to Lebanon or Iran, according to an opinion poll released by public broadcaster ARD on Saturday. 


Compared to a survey from March, criticism of the military actions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government in the Middle East is growing among the German population.


Some 57% of those questioned said Israel's military response to the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 has now gone too far. That is an increase of seven percentage points.


The number of respondents who consider military action in the Gaza Strip to be appropriate dropped by seven percentage points to merely 21%. Only 4% think it did not go far enough.


According to six out of 10 Germans (61%), Israel is completely or somewhat responsible for the situation in Gaza.


Germany has been a staunch supporter of Israel for decades as a result of its Nazi past. The European country is a significant arms supplier to Israel, with a substantial contribution of €326.5 million ($353.70 million) worth of military equipment and weapons in the past year alone.

The Israeli onslaught against the Gaza Strip has killed nearly 39,700 people since last October following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.