German government sources confirmed to dpa on Thursday that Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit Israel and Jordan from this weekend. It will be his second visit to Israel since the start of the Gaza war on October 7.
Israeli media reports said earlier that Scholz would visit Israel on Sunday.
The war was triggered by the brutal terrorist attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas on October 7, when the attackers murdered more than 1,200 people in the Israeli border area and kidnapped 250 others to the coastal strip.
According to the Hamas-run health authority, more than 31,300 people have been killed in Israeli attacks and fighting in the Gaza Strip since then.
In view of the dire humanitarian situation and the many civilian casualties, many countries are now criticizing the actions of the Israeli military.
Scholz recently emphasized that Israel has every right to defend itself against Hamas terror. However, he also once again called for a prolonged ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, which should help to free the Israeli hostages held by Hamas and enable the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Scholz strongly rejects the Israeli government's planned military offensive in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip. "We also expressly warn against a large-scale offensive against Rafah," Scholz said last month at the dpa editorial conference in Berlin.
According to the German government, Germany is contributing to the planned aid sea corridor for Gaza. The German Air Force is also to take part in the airdrop of urgently needed aid to the Gaza Strip this week with transport aircraft.