MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UK, Germany, France call for end of immediate fighting in Gaza and release of Israeli hostages

“The fighting must end now, and all hostages still detained by Hamas must be released,” PM Keir Starmer, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron said.

A joint statement from the leaders of United Kingdom, Germany and France called for an immediate end to fighting Gaza, the release of Israeli hostages and the prevention of further escalation, especially on the part of Iran and its allies.

“The fighting must end now, and all hostages still detained by Hamas must be released,” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron said.

The three leaders, all considered major supporters of Israel, called on Iran and its allies, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, “to refrain from attacks that would further escalate regional tensions and jeopardize the opportunity to agree to a cease-fire and the release of hostages.”

The 10-month-long conflict has seen repeated calls for cease-fire negotiations, but the only success so far has been a one-week truce agreed back in November.

Monday's renewed call comes after a deadly Israeli airstrike killed more than 90 people sheltering in a school that had been set up as a refuge for displaced people.

Almost 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. Meanwhile, fears that the conflict may erupt into an all-out regional war continue unabated.

The killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran's capital, Tehran, at the end of July was followed by comments from Iran vowing to respond to what it called an Israeli attack.

In response, the US has pledged to bolster Israel's defenses, with reports that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the deployment of a guided-missile submarine to the region and told the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly.

Starmer, Macron and Scholtz warned that whoever escalates the conflict “will bear responsibility for actions that jeopardize this opportunity for peace and stability. No country or nation stands to gain from a further escalation in the Middle East.”