German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for an urgent ceasefire in the Gaza War after meeting Jordan's King Abdullah in the southern Jordanian port of Aqaba on Sunday.
"It is absolutely clear that we now have to do everything to prevent the situation becoming worse than it already is," Scholz said.
On his second visit to the region since the war started, the German chancellor came out against an Israeli ground offensive into Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.
"I believe that a large number of casualties from an offensive of this kind would make all peaceful development extremely difficult," he said. "Many people in Israel as well know this."
Scholz repeated the German government position that Israel had every right to defend itself against attacks launched by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, but said this should not result in the many people in Gaza who had fled to Rafah being directly threatened by military action.
"For that reason, I have made very clear, exactly the way the US president has done, that we find that this is something where one has to do everything very, very, very carefully so as to avoid further high casualty figures," Scholz said.
Referring to a planned resumption of indirect talks on a provisional ceasefire, Scholz said that the possibility of a longer ceasefire needed to be firmed up.
