Germany’s foreign minister to travel to Israel next week

BERLIN (Reuters) – German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will travel to Israel in the middle of next week, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Sunday, a trip in which she said she intends to urge a ceasefire as Israel prepares to advance on Rafah.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government was preparing an evacuation plan for the more than one million Palestinians trapped in Rafah, on the southern border with Egypt. Many have already been displaced at least once and have nowhere else to flee in the crowded enclave.

“The distress in Rafah is already beyond belief. 1.3 million people are seeking protection from the fighting in the most limited space. An offensive by the Israeli army on Rafah would be a humanitarian catastrophe,” Baerbock wrote in a post on X on Saturday. .

“Israel must defend itself against the terror of Hamas, but at the same time alleviate the suffering of civilians as much as possible. That is why another pause in the fighting is necessary – also so that the hostages can finally be released. I will discuss ways for that in this. Israel will return next week,” he added in a second post.

Palestinian health authorities say more than 28,000 people, about 70% of them women and children, have been killed since Israel began its offensive after the militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, stormed the fence border into Israel on October 7.

According to Israeli accounts, 1,200 were killed in the Hamas attack and more than 250 hostages taken.

Baerbock’s visit next week will be his fifth since the outbreak of war.

(Reporting by Andreas Rinke, Writing by Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Sharon Singleton)