Middle East Crisis

Voices on Gaza
Trump: Israel must make decision on next step in Gaza

Israel must make a decision on the next step in Gaza, US President Donald Trump said on Sunday, Reuters reports. The statement came before a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Scotland.

Trump stressed the importance of securing the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

“They don’t want to give them back, so Israel will have to make a decision,” he told reporters.

Protests
57 arrested in demonstration against Israel’s warfare

57 people have been arrested in Berlin during a pro-Palestinian demonstration on the outskirts of the city’s annual Pride parade on Saturday, AFP reports. 17 police officers are said to have been injured, according to police.

The reason for the arrests was public order disturbances. It involved resistance to police, bottle throwing and physical altercations. Some were also arrested for using anti-Semitic slogans and "symbols of constitutional resistance and terrorist organizations," the police said on social media.

Approximately 10,000 demonstrators took part in the demonstration.

The Berlin police have been criticized several times for using excessive force at pro-Palestinian demonstrations, writes Tagesschau. The criticism has come from, among others, the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights. He has written in a letter to Germany's Interior Minister that the authorities' handling of the situation restricts freedom of expression and the freedom to demonstrate legally, writes the channel rbb24.

Gaza war
Analysis: Probably just a gesture to those who have criticized Israel

Israel's claims that the country is not responsible for the humanitarian disaster in Gaza are not accepted by allies in Europe, the UN and several other organizations. Jeremy Bowen writes this in an analysis in the BBC.

He believes that Israel's new measures to allow more emergency aid to reach Gaza can therefore be seen in two ways. It can be interpreted as a tacit recognition by Israel that the country needs to do more for the civilian population, but it is likely just a gesture to those who have sharply criticized Israel's actions, writes Bowen.

CNN's Nic Robertson writes that several factors are behind Netanyahu's decision to allow more emergency aid in. Negotiations for a ceasefire with Hamas collapsed at the same time as international criticism of the situation in Gaza reached boiling point.

An agreement could have led to more deliveries of emergency aid, the release of Israeli hostages and a path towards a sustainable ceasefire, but it slipped out of the prime minister's hands. The only way to deal with the storm of criticism that has instead been directed at Israel was to ease the blockade, writes Robertson.

"But no aid in the world can save those who are already close to dying of starvation," his analysis states.