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| - Germany on Wednesday said Israel had a "right to self-defence" against deadly rocket fire by Palestinian militants amid growing international alarm about the escalating violence. Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said her government "condemns these incessant rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip against Israeli cities in the strongest terms", saying they "could not be justified". "Israel has the right to self-defence against these attacks," he added. Seibert noted that both Arab and Jewish Israeli citizens had been killed in the barrage of rockets in recent days by Hamas and "allied extremist groups". "Their goal is to arbitrarily and indiscriminately kill people," he said. Palestinian militants have launched more than 1,000 rockets since Monday, according to Israel's army, which has launched hundreds of air strikes on Hamas and other Islamist groups in the crowded costal enclave of Gaza. The most intense hostilities in seven years have killed at least 48 people in Gaza, including 14 children, two Palestinians in the West Bank, and five Israelis, triggered by weekend unrest at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, which is sacred to both Muslims and Jews. dlc/hmn/kjl
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