BERLIN, October 7. /TASS/. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called for launching a political process to reach a truce and resolve the conflict in the Middle East on the anniversary of the Hamas' attack on Israel.

"Dear friends in Israel, we stand with you, we are on your side," the message of the DPA agency reads, quoting the chancellor’s words at the opening of the Hamburg Sustainability Conference. At the same time, Scholz recalled the suffering of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. "Daily contact with violence and hunger is not the basis on which something good can arise," the chancellor stressed. According to him, people need hope and prospects.

"Therefore, the German government is in favor of a ceasefire, the release of hostages, and launching a political process, even if today it seems to be more distant than ever before," Scholz said. He noted the need to achieve a two-state solution to the Middle East problem so that "the Israelis and Palestinians can live together in peace for the long term." Scholz also called on Iran and Hezbollah to stop delivering strikes against Israel.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian movement Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 250 hostages. In response, Israel declared a complete blockade of Gaza and launched retaliatory strikes against it, as well as parts of Lebanon and Syria, before launching a ground operation in the enclave.

On September 23, Israel launched Operation Northern Arrows against the Lebanon-based Hezbollah Shia movement, carrying out massive airstrikes on its military targets. The stated goal is to create safe conditions for the return of local residents to Israel’s northern border areas. A September 27 strike on Beirut killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The Israeli army announced the start of a ground operation in the border areas of southern Lebanon in the early hours of October 1.