In a speech before the German Bundestag last week, Baerbock claimed that Israel has the right to target civilians in Gaza in what it called “self-defence.”

In a statement on Thursday, Al-Azhar asserted that such statements represent “civilizational regression and a political mandate that allows criminals to practice killing innocent civilians… and even clear evidence of blind bias in supporting Zionist terrorism and blessing its crimes.”

“These extremist statements by a senior official are a precedent that portends great danger, as it carries explicit support for this entity in killing civilians, including children, women, and youth,” read the statement.

Al-Azhar asserted that the German foreign minister would rather have engaged in mediation efforts to end the Israeli yearlong aggression; instead, she chose to align with the perpetrators, jeopardizing all attempts to halt the violence.

The world’s leading Sunni Islamic institution reminded Baerbock of her country’s humanitarian stance of receiving refugees from various nations over the past few years due to the coercive wars and conflicts in those regions.

This humanitarian commitment starkly contrasts with the extremist rhetoric that “seems to stem from a misplaced sense of historical guilt,” Al-Azhar added.

The statement stressed that this statement represents a stigma in Germany’s policy and transforms it from a supporter of humanitarian issues to an instigator of heinous crimes against defenceless civilians.

Since 7 October, Israel has killed at least 42,438 Palestinians and injured 99,246 others in the Gaza Strip, most of them being women and children.

It has also destroyed much of the strip's infrastructure and severed supplies of food, water, and medicine, placing its 2.3 million residents on the brink of famine.