BERLIN

‘We demand a humanitarian ceasefire so that more people do not die in Gaza,’ deputy foreign ministry spokeswoman tells reporters

The German government expressed shock Friday at the Israeli army’s killing of Palestinian civilians waiting for humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip but it refused to explicitly condemn the massacre.

“There is frightening news reaching us (from Gaza). We very clearly demand clarification of the circumstances. The protection of civilians in such a dramatic situation is the top priority,” said Deputy Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Kathrin Deschauer when asked at a news conference in Berlin, if Germany condemns the latest mass killings in Gaza.

“We demand a humanitarian cease-fire so that more people do not die in Gaza,” she added.

But deputy chancellery spokesman Wolfgang Buechner said the killings of Palestinian civilians on Thursday was “not a massacre” because the circumstances remain unclear.

Those remarks came after Israeli forces fired on a crowd of Palestinians early Thursday as they waited for humanitarian aid near Gaza City. The Israeli onslaught killed at least 112 victims and injured 760 others, according to the Gaza-based Health Ministry.

Israel has launched a deadly military offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv said killed less than 1,200 people.

At least 30,035 Palestinians have since been killed and more than 70,457 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.