BERLIN 

The images emerging from Gaza showing burned children and civilians after Israeli airstrikes are “horrendous,” German Foreign Ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer said on Monday.

He made the remarks in response to Anadolu’s question about Israeli military’s airstrike in the early hours of the day, targeting tents of displaced Palestinians in the courtyard of a hospital in central Gaza.

“Unfortunately, this conflict forces us to see the most horrendous images. And whenever civilians and children die, it is nothing but horrendous,” Fischer said.

“That is why we keep saying that protecting the civilian population should be a primary goal of any military operation,” he stressed.

At least four people were killed and dozens of others seriously injured when Israeli warplanes hit the Al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah city on Monday morning.

Videos from the scene showed some Palestinian civilians burned alive, while rescuers were struggling to save people and contain the fire in the hospital’s courtyard.

Fischer said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has repeatedly underlined Israel’s right to self-defense, but also raised Berlin’s expectation for the better protection of Palestinian civilians during her visits to Tel Aviv.

“We talk openly among friends, and just as we have done here many times, we have also said during our visits that Israel’s methods of warfare must change, it must become more target-oriented,” he stressed.

Since Israel launched its war against Hamas in Gaza last October, it has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians and injured more than 98,400 more, mostly women and children.

Israel is facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the besieged enclave, where millions of Palestinians are displaced, facing famine and acute shortages of medical aid and other essentials.