‘Reckless’: Rights group decries Germany lifting arms embargo on Israel

Germany had paused armed sales amid Israeli ground offensive in Gaza City, but cited ceasefire in resumption.

Amnesty International has decried the German government’s decision to lift a partial arms embargo on Israel, calling the move “reckless” and “unlawful”.

Germany responded to mounting domestic pressure in August to ban nearly all arms sales to Israel. That came as Israeli forces moved ahead with a controversial ground operation in Gaza City.

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But last week, Sebastian Hille, a spokesperson for Chancellor Friedrich Merz, announced a reversal of the policy, citing the October 10 ceasefire in Gaza. He said the enclave has “fundamentally stabilised”.

In a statement on Monday, the day the reversal went into effect, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns, said “now is absolutely not the time to ease this pressure”.

“Germany’s decision to lift its partial suspension of weapons shipments to Israel is reckless, unlawful and sends entirely the wrong message to Israel: that it can continue committing genocide, war crimes, and apartheid against Palestinians and unlawfully occupy the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza without fear of consequence,” Guevara-Rosas said.

She called Germany’s erstwhile embargo “one of the few forms of meaningful pressure applied by the international community to Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza”.

Israel has repeatedly been accused of violating the ceasefire and continuing to restrict aid into Gaza. At least four people were killed on Monday in Gaza, where at least 69,733 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, 2023.

Germany is the second largest supplier of weapons to Israel, beyond the United States, which has repeatedly refused to leverage the billions of dollars in arms it provides its close ally.

All told, Germany has issued export licenses worth more than 485 million euros ($559m) from October 7, 2023, to May 12, 2025, according to Amnesty, which cited government data.

The weapons transfers have included antitank weapons and gearboxes for Merkava tanks used in Gaza.

Speaking last week, Hille said Germany would continue to review sales to Israel on a case-by-case basis.