BERLIN: The speaker of Germany’s lower house of parliament briefly visited the Israeli-controlled part of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the body told AFP. Julia Kloeckner spent “about an hour in the part of Gaza controlled by Israeli army forces,” parliament said, becoming the first German official to visit the territory since Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023 that sparked the devastating war. Since the start of the conflict, Israel has drastically restricted access to the densely populated coastal strip.

Die Bundestagspräsidentin ist die erste deutsche Politikerin, die seit dem Überfall der Hamas 2023 in den Gazastreifen reist. Aus der SPD hatte es zuvor scharfe Kritik gegeben.

BERLIN: The speaker of Germany’s lower house of parliament briefly visited the Israeli-controlled part of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the body told AFP. Julia Kloeckner spent…