Overview
- In Jerusalem, Merz met President Isaac Herzog and reaffirmed Germany’s steadfast support for Israel’s security and right to self‑defense.
- He distanced himself from Israel’s Gaza campaign, backed moving the U.S.-brokered truce plan into a second phase with Hamas disarmament, and pressed for a two‑state outcome.
- The chancellor is scheduled to visit Yad Vashem and meet freed Hamas hostages and bereaved relatives before talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanjahu on Sunday.
- Merz called for expanded humanitarian access to Gaza before winter and rejected any formal or de facto annexation steps in the West Bank after consultations with Jordan’s King Abdullah II.
- Rights groups criticized the planned meeting with an ICC‑indicted premier as risking German credibility, while Israel signaled improving relations and hopes for renewed defense supplies after the embargo’s lapse.