German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is to visit the Middle East later this week for talks with regional leaders on the prospect of a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages.
Baerbock is to hold talks with her Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud in Riyadh on Thursday before travelling to Jordan for discussions with Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi in Amman.
She is then set to meet Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Friday ahead of a trip to Ramallah in the West Bank, where she will hold talks with Mohammed Mustafa, prime minister of the Palestinian Authority.
The two-day visit marks Baerbock’s ninth trip to Israel – and 11th to the Middle East – since the October 7 attacks by the Palestinian militant group Hamas triggered the war in Gaza.
The talks are likely to focus on efforts to conclude a ceasefire agreement and the release of remaining hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
However, the recent recovery of the corpses of six hostages and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s threats of retaliation have placed additional strain on negotiations.
Earlier, a German government spokesman said “the harrowing discovery of the six dead Israeli hostages last weekend has once again made it clear that a ceasefire that opens the way to the liberation of all Hamas hostages must now have the highest priority.”
“All other considerations should take a back seat to this,” spokesman Wolfgang Büchner added.
The German government called on “all parties in the negotiations to show the greatest flexibility and willingness to compromise,” in order for the hostages to finally be released, for more humanitarian aid to be brought into the Gaza Strip and for the people to be given respite from a war that has now lasted almost 11 months.
