International condemnations of Ben Gvir's statements and regional tensions following an Israeli raid in Syria

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz strongly condemns the inhumane comments made by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a German government spokesman said on Wednesday.

Media reported earlier that Ben Gvir spoke, during a podcast interview, about the necessity of killing between 30 and 40 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip every night.

The spokesman added that there should be no more Israeli annexations in the West Bank.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot also denounced the “inhuman” statements by Ben Gvir, and said in an interview with the French newspaper “La Montagne,” “What is happening today in the West Bank is truly shameful and should disgust us all.” For this reason, we imposed sanctions on Minister Ben Gvir, who recently made unacceptable and inhumane statements.”

Ben Gvir called for the killing of more Palestinians in Gaza, ahead of the launch of talks on the post-war regime in the coastal strip, as he said that he disagreed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on this matter.

Ben Gvir's statements came in a podcast with Rom Braslavsky; The former hostage in Gaza, broadcast Saturday. Ben Gvir, head of the Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, said: “I believe that targeted killings should be carried out in Gaza, with 30 to 40 people being killed every night.”

He explained that he was not referring only to “armed Palestinians who pose a direct threat, but rather that there are people in Gaza who do not deserve to live,” he said.

American and Israeli officials reported that Israel informed the administration of US President Donald Trump that its recent attack on the Abu al-Duhur military airport in Idlib came in response to Damascus’s approval of Turkey’s deployment of forces at the airport, which the Hebrew state sees as a “threat” to its security, in accusations rejected by Ankara.

According to the Axios news site, this unusual strike has exacerbated tensions in the region between three of the United States’ closest allies, Israel, Syria, and Turkey, at a time when the Trump administration is striving to prevent further escalation.

Trump sees his approach towards the government of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa as a foreign policy achievement, and he also has a close relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while Israel is a close ally of the United States. However, Trump's relations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have witnessed great tension in recent months.

This hostile move by Israel aroused the dissatisfaction of the White House and senior American officials.

Initially, Israel did not claim responsibility for the attack, and after many hours passed without any official comment, Netanyahu's office implicitly hinted at the responsibility of the Hebrew state, after Damascus and the United States accused it of that during the day.

A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said: “Israel and Syria agreed to a status quo on security matters, and Syria was about to violate it by agreeing to the deployment of Turkish forces at an air base near Aleppo.”

He added: “Israel has repeatedly warned Syria that such a deployment would threaten Israel’s security. Syria chose to ignore these warnings.”

The American ambassador to Turkey and the American envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, revealed on “X” that Israel carried out the strike, expressing the Trump administration’s “deep” concern, and describing the attack as “an unnecessary escalation that does not contribute to the stability of the region.”

The Syrian and Turkish governments also condemned the attack.

A Turkish official said that “there is no Turkish presence at the airport,” accusing Israel of “creating pretexts to bomb neighboring countries and destabilize the region.”

An informed source said that the Syrian government had been aware of Israel's concerns about Al-Qaeda for some time. It sent letters to the Israelis explaining the reasons for the recent rebuilding of the runway, stressing that it had no hostile intentions.

American and Israeli sources revealed that Tel Aviv informed the White House in advance of the strike, and that it was primarily aimed at deterring Turkey from sending a shipment of advanced weapons systems to the airport, and preventing it from turning into a site to strengthen the Turkish military presence.

About three hours ago, Trump spoke by phone with Erdogan, but it was not clear whether the topic was raised during the call.

The attack comes at a time when relations between Netanyahu and Trump are witnessing great tension, despite the close alliance between Washington and Tel Aviv.

On the other hand, American officials believe that the Syrian government did not take hostile steps towards Israel, but rather sought during the past months to reach a new security agreement to reduce tension on the border.

An American official said that Damascus pushed for weeks to implement an agreement with the United States and Israel to establish a joint coordination center in Jordan, with the aim of managing such incidents and preventing escalation, but Israel refused to operate the center and in return continued to increase its military incursions into southern Syria.

Another American official said: “At some point, the Syrian government began to change its position and believed that it needed to defend itself in the face of Israeli aggression.”

American officials added that the Trump administration asked the Syrian government to exercise restraint, stressing that addressing this issue would be easier after the Israeli elections.

At dawn today (Wednesday), Israeli warplanes launched a series of raids targeting the Ali Al-Tahir Heights on the outskirts of Nabatiyeh Al-Fawqa, Doha Kafr Rumman, and the outskirts of the town of Deir Saryan in southern Lebanon. The Israeli forces carried out dawn bombings targeting the towns of Jadatha and Al-Mansouri in southern Lebanon, and fired a number of missiles at the town of Majdal Zoun and the neighboring valleys in southern Lebanon, and at night dropped flares over the regions of Tire and Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon, according to the official Lebanese National News Agency.

It is noteworthy that Israel has launched a war on Lebanon since the second of last March, after Hezbollah launched missiles at northern Israel. Israeli forces occupied a number of towns in southern Lebanon.

Israeli raids continued to target large areas in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa in eastern Lebanon, after the first announcement of the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel on April 16, then extending it on April 23 for 3 weeks, and extending it again on May 15 for 45 days.

On June 20, a ceasefire was announced, after which the pace of Israeli targeting of southern Lebanon decreased.