BERLIN

Germany on Saturday expressed dismay over an Israeli attack on a refugee camp in the West Bank that claimed the lives of 18 Palestinians.

“The high number of civilian casualties in an Israeli air strike in Tulkarem is shocking,” the Foreign Ministry said on X.

In the “fight against terror,” the Israeli army is obligated to protect civilians in the West Bank, it said, adding that “Palestinians and Israelis alike have the right to live in safety.”

At least 18 Palestinians were killed and several others injured in an Israeli airstrike late Thursday on the Tulkarem refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed the death toll in a statement. Earlier, it said that 16 people were killed in the attack.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said that “Israeli warplanes struck a popular cafe in the Al-Hamam neighborhood of the Tulkarem camp with at least one missile while several civilians were present.”

On Aug. 28, Germany called for a swift end to Israel’s 57-year-long occupation of the West Bank. ​​​​​​

Israel must “end the occupation (of the West Bank) as quickly as possible,” Foreign Ministry’s deputy spokesman Christian Wagner was quoted saying.

Berlin has repeatedly made clear that the ongoing occupation of the West Bank is a major obstacle to a two-state solution.

The German government is facing mounting public criticism for its continued silence on Israeli war crimes as the majority of Germans strongly oppose the Gaza conflict.