German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the country would set up an airlift of humanitarian aid over Gaza this week and called on Israel to “improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation” in the region.
The move, along with the language the center-right leader used to condemn Israel, might come as a surprise. Outside of the United States, Germany is regarded by many as Israel’s staunchest ally. From 2020 to 2024, the country supplied Israel with one-third of its weapons imports. It also requires applicants for German citizenship to check off a box saying that they support Israel’s right to exist.
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About the author
Jesse Chase-Lubitz
Jesse Chase-Lubitz covers climate change and multilateral development banks for Devex. She previously worked at Nature Magazine, where she received a Pulitzer grant for an investigation into land reclamation. She has written for outlets such as Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, and The Japan Times, among others. Jesse holds a master’s degree in Environmental Policy and Regulation from the London School of Economics.
