BERLIN (Reuters) – German Foreign Minister Annalena Verbock announced on Sunday that she would visit Israel in the middle of next week, where she said she would 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 1 million Palestinians trapped in Rafah on the southern border with Egypt. Many have already been evacuated at least once, and there is nowhere left to flee in the crowded enclave.
“The distress in Rafah is already incredible. 1.3 million people are seeking protection from fighting in the most confined space. An attack on Rafah by Israeli forces would be a humanitarian catastrophe.” wrote Burbock in a post to X on Saturday. .
war in Israel and Gaza
“Israel must protect itself from Hamas terrorism, but at the same time alleviate the suffering of civilians as much as possible. That is why it is necessary to suspend the fighting again in order to finally free the hostages. Yes, we will discuss how to do that in the next article. Next week in Israel,” she added in a second post.
Palestinian health authorities say more than 28,000 people have been killed, about 70% of them since the militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, breached the border fence into Israel and launched an offensive on October 7. It was announced that they were a woman and a child.
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According to Israeli tallies, the Hamas attack killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages.
Mr Baerbock's visit next week will be his fifth since the outbreak of war.
(Reporting by Andreas Linke; Writing by Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Sharon Singleton)
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