The leaders of Germany, France and Britain are weighing up whether to dispatch their foreign secretaries to Israel next week, the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Tuesday.
Merz's announcement came a few hours after a collective of United Nations agencies and non-governmental monitors issued a food insecurity and malnutrition alert for the Gaza Strip.
"We will probably ask the three foreign ministers ... to travel to Israel together next Thursday to present the position of the three governments," Merz told a press conference in Berlin alongside Jordan's King Abdullah II.
On Monday, just before the king's arrival in Germany, Merz said the two countries would work together to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.
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German air drops
Following talks in Berlin with the king, Merz said German aircraft could fly aid airdrop missions from Jordan to Gaza from Wednesday.
"This work may only make a small contribution to humanitarian aid, but it sends an important signal: We are here, we are in the region," Merz said.
On Tuesday, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which also includes the World Health Organization, said a worst-case scenario of famine was unfolding in Gaza amid the Israeli offensive against the militant group Hamas.
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"Amid relentless conflict, mass displacement, severely restricted humanitarian access, and the collapse of essential services, including healthcare, the crisis has reached an alarming and deadly turning point," the IPC said.
Last week, the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, said he would talk with his French and German counterparts about what they could do to stop the killing and get food into Gaza.
“The suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible," Starmer said in a statement.
"While the situation has been grave for some time, it has reached new depths and continues to worsen. “We are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe.”
On Tuesday, he recalled top British politicians from their summer holidays for an emergency meeting to discuss delivering emergency aid to Gaza and a proposed peace plan.
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'Two state solution'
Last Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced he will officially recognise Palestinian statehood before the UN General Assembly in September. Israel and the United States denounced the move but it was hailed by Palestinians and Arab countries.
In a letter sent to Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday, Macron confirmed France's intention to press ahead with recognition and work to convince other partners to follow suit.
To date, about 144 of the 193 UN member states have recognised a Palestinian state, including most of the global south as well as Russia, China and India. Only a handful of the 27 EU countries do so, mostly former Communist countries as well as Sweden and Cyprus.
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Spain, Ireland, Norway and Slovenia did so last year.
If Macron were to maintain his resolve, France – a permanent member of the UN Security Council – will become the largest Western power and the first G7 country to recognise Palestinian statehood.
(With newswires)
