The German Foreign Ministry disputes as “misleading” a report in the Israeli media about a heated discussion between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock over the situation in the Gaza Strip.
“The key points in this account of the hours-long meeting between Foreign Minister Baerbock and Prime Minister Netanyahu are wrong and misleading,” the Foreign Ministry wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday.
German Ambassador to Israel Steffen Seibert made the same statement without providing details.
A journalist from Israeli TV channel Channel 13 had previously reported that Baerbock reacted negatively when he showed images from the Gaza Strip showing markets full of food during a meeting in Israel on Wednesday.
Baerbock reportedly responded by pointing out widespread hunger in Gaza and offered to show Netanyahu photos of starving children on her cell phone.
Netanyahu reportedly replied that she should look at photos of the markets and also of people on the beach, as there were no cases of hunger there.
According to the Channel 13 report, Baerbock advised him not to show the photos because they did not reflect the reality in the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu, in turn, reportedly replied loudly that the photos were real and that Israel was not showing a fabricated reality like the Nazis. For example, in 1942 the Nazis had a film crew shoot a propaganda film depicting scenes from everyday life in the Warsaw Ghetto, where Jews were forced to live in appalling conditions.
Baerbock reportedly asked Netanyahu if he accuses doctors working in Gaza, and the international media, of lying about the situation.
The images of the market stalls filled with fruit and vegetables were published this week by COGAT, an Israeli agency within the Ministry of Defense responsible for contacts with the Palestinian Territories and humanitarian aid.
The images show markets in the north of the coastal area, which is mainly affected by food shortages. According to COGAT and aid organizations, some food has recently arrived in the area, although aid workers and residents say this is far from enough.
