Moment terrified German officials sprint off government plane and lie face down on tarmac at Tel Aviv airport with Chancellor Scholz rushed to a waiting car after air raid warning
- Chancellor Olaf Scholz was escorted to safety and driven to a shelter
- German officials were videoed sprinting off the plane and onto the tarmac
This is the moment concerned German officials ran off a government plane and laid face down on the tarmac at Tel Aviv airport after an air raid warning.
Shortly before the plane was due to set off, there was an air raid alarm at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, which saw many German officials run off the aircraft and take cover.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had already boarded the plane but was taken off and escorted into a car, according to German news outlet Bild.
Chancellor Scholz was then driven to an airport building where there are shelters and the outlet claimed that he was able to ‘see two explosions with his own eyes.’
They also reported that the explosions were detonations from Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system that knocked Hamas rockets out of the sky. They claimed two missiles were fired.
Those who were also on the jet were videoed laying face down on the floor with their hands over their ears on the tarmac.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had already boarded the plane but was taken off and escorted into a car, according to German news outlet Bild. Pictured: Chancellor Scholz disembarking the plane after landing in Cairo yesterday
Shortly before the plane was due to set off, there was an air raid alarm at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, which saw many German officials run off the plane to safety (pictured)
After a couple of minutes, the officials were able to board the jet again and according to Bild, the Bundeskriminalamt federal police checked the aircraft before it travelled from Tel Aviv to Cairo.
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Chancellor Scholz said Germany wants to support Egypt’s efforts to de-escalate tensions following Hamas’ attack on Israel during a meeting with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Cairo today.
He said: ‘Together with Egypt, we want to work to alleviate the terrible consequences of the war,’ adding that they also discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Chancellor Scholz also called for a comprehensive investigation of a blast at a Gaza hospital which killed at least 500 people, according to Gaza health officials.
‘I am horrified by the images of the explosion in a hospital in Gaza. Innocent civilians were injured and killed,’ he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Scholz said his ‘thoughts are with the families of the victims.
‘A thorough investigation of the incident is imperative,’ added Scholz.
Israeli and Palestinian militants have traded blame for the explosion, which has sparked global condemnation and violent protests in several Muslim nations.
Intelligence information revealed that the strike which hit al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City was a rocket misfired by Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists, the Israeli army has claimed.
But a spokesman for Islamic Jihad has said this is ‘completely incorrect’ and accused the IDF of ‘trying to cover for the horrifying crime and massacre they committed against civilians’.
Video from the hospital showed fire engulfing the building and the hospital’s grounds strewn with bodies, many of them young children. Hundreds of people were reportedly seeking shelter at the hospital at the time of the blast, which Hamas has called a ‘horrific massacre’ and a ‘crime of genocide’.
Those who were also on the jet were videoed laying on the floor, face down with their hands over their ears, on the tarmac at Tel Aviv airport (pictured)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is accompanied by a security detail as he boards the plane at the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv yesterday
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (R) shakes hands with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (L) as he welcomes him for his visit to Cairo, Egypt
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lights a candle at a makeshift memorial site at the fountain at Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv yesterday
Chancellor Scholz put down a candle at the memorial site at the fountain at Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv yesterday
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (L) meets with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (R) during his visit to Cairo, Egypt
About 6,000 Palestinians were sheltering at the hospital, which is reportedly funded by the Anglican Church.
The carnage came as the US tried to convince Israel to allow the delivery of supplies to desperate civilians, aid groups and hospitals in the tiny Gaza Strip, which has been under a complete siege since the deadly rampage by Hamas in southern Israel.
READ MORE: IDF claims video shows misfiring Gaza rocket was to blame for hospital carnage: Footage shows missile exploding in the sky before blast that left hundreds dead – as Israel furiously denies it was behind devastating strike
It also came a day before US President Joe Biden was due to visit the region to show support for Israel and try to prevent the war from spreading.
Palestine’s president Mahmoud Abbas is understood to have cancelled the meeting with Biden in protest over the airstrike.
President Biden said he was ‘outraged’ at the strike on a Gaza hospital and has vowed to work out who is behind it.
He was en route to Tel Aviv and left Washington, DC as the news of the strike on the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City was unfolding.
Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman for the IDF, told CNN’s Erin Burnett they have conclusive evidence that Israel was not behind the strike – but the evidence has not yet been published. He shared a video of what he said could be the missile strike.
‘I am outraged and deeply saddened by the explosion at the Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza, and the terrible loss of life that resulted,’ said Biden, in a statement issued by the White House.
‘Immediately upon hearing this news, I spoke with King Abdullah II of Jordan, and Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel and have directed my national security team to continue gathering information about what exactly happened.
‘The United States stands unequivocally for the protection of civilian life during conflict and we mourn the patients, medical staff and other innocents killed or wounded in this tragedy.’
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