Germany to send Israelis Bundeswehr tank shells: Der Spiegel

The German Der Spiegel magazine reported on Tuesday that the German government is considering delivering tank shells to “Israel” to support its genocidal war against Gaza. 

The magazine stated in a report that “Berlin received a request to supply [“Israel” with] about 10,000 precision shells of 120mm caliber to the Israeli army in November last year,” adding that “the relevant authorities have already approved the request preliminary.”

The magazine adds that Berlin is considering supplying the IOF from the stocks of the German army to respond to the request urgently: The military industry cannot provide the required amount of precision ammunition immediately.

In November last year, a source in the German government told Reuters that “approvals for arms exports to Israel in 2023 have increased about 10 times compared to 2022,” indicating Berlin’s prioritization of arms exports to “Israel” since the onset of the aggression against Gaza. 

The government approved the export of $323 million worth of military equipment to “Israel” starting on November 2nd last year, compared to only $35 million worth of military equipment in 2022.

According to the German news agency that published these figures, Germany “primarily supplies Israel with components of air defense systems and communication equipment.”

The export permits were granted during the days of the ongoing war between the Israeli occupation and Palestinian resistance since October 7th last year.

Additionally, following Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the source stated that the federal government gave priority to approving requests for the export of military equipment to “Israel.”

It is worth noting that this German military support for “Israel” comes at a time when the German army is facing an armament gap following the export of weapons to Ukraine, putting serious strain on the weapon stocks, according to German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.

German arms exports to ‘Israel’ increased tenfold in 2023

Compared to the same period in 2022, Germany has boosted its arms shipments to “Israel” by about ten times since the beginning of the year. 

The majority of the sales were approved after October 7, according to a report published on Wednesday by German television Tagesschau, which cited the Economy Ministry.

The broadcaster quoted the Ministry as saying, in response to a request submitted by Tagesschau’s parent company, the ARD media group, that as of November 2, the German government permitted weaponry exports worth 303 million euros ($324 million), a tenfold increase compared with 2022.

Early in October, the German Economy Ministry said that with 3.3 billion euros in authorized shipments, Ukraine led the list of countries receiving Germany’s military exports, followed by the United States (466 million euros) and Hungary (1.03 billion euros).

German authorities have not only funded Israeli crimes against Gaza, which have killed 24,285 Palestinians so far. 

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