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Is alarmed: Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas
Photo: Janine Schmitz / photothek.de / imago images / photothek
More than 1,600 rockets have been fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip since Monday evening.
Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) has accused the radical Islamic Hamas of deliberately escalating the Middle East conflict with "rocket terror" against Israel.
"If over 1000 rockets are fired on Israeli cities, then that is a special dimension," Maas told the Saarbrücker Zeitung.
"In such a situation Israel must be able to defend itself."
Hamas had "in an already tense situation consciously and massively escalated the rocket terror situation - with dire consequences for Israelis and Palestinians," said Maas.
Now it must be prevented "that now, after the end of Ramadan, the situation worsens again".
The Foreign Minister warned: "We are facing critical days."
Maas calls for talks between the two sides
Maas also called on Israel and the Palestinians to sit down at the table again after years to negotiate directly.
In view of the unresolved Middle East conflict, "small provocations" were enough to spark violence.
"It won't stop until there is a political solution," warned Maas.
Such a political solution had "been made far too little in the last few years."
For its part, the Israeli army bombed targets in the Gaza Strip around 600 times.
The escalation sparked international fears of a renewed war in the Middle East.
According to the authorities there, 109 people were killed, including 27 children, and more than 580 others were injured in the Gaza Strip.
On the Israeli side, eight people, including a six-year-old child, were killed by rockets from the Gaza Strip.
Dozens more people were injured.
The latest escalation of violence was triggered by the threat of eviction of around 30 Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem, which were claimed by Jewish Israelis.
mfh / AFP
