German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on Sunday on his second visit to Israel since the start of the Gaza war just over five months ago.
The focus is expected to be Israeli preparations for a ground offensive in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, against which Scholz plans to issue an urgent warning: The German chancellor is calling for a ceasefire to enable the release of hostages and more humanitarian aid for the suffering population in the Palestinian territory.
The Gaza war was triggered on October 7 by a terrorist attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement.
Although Germany supports the Israeli military operation against Hamas in principle, it has criticized the conduct of the war, which has already claimed the lives of many thousands of civilians. A ceasefire that lasts "for the foreseeable future" is needed, Scholz said before his departure on Saturday.
Scholz was on Saturday evening expected to arrive in the Jordanian city of Aqaba on the Red Sea, where he is scheduled to meet Jordanian King Abdullah on Sunday.
In the afternoon, he is due to fly on to Israel, where he plans to meet President Isaac Herzog and War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz as well as relatives of hostages alongside Netanyahu.
