Germany updates: Israeli Foreign Minister Saar visits Berlin

• Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar will lay a wreath at Berlin's Holocaust Memorial with his German counterpart and hold a joint press conference
• German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is to hold talks with US President Donald Trump in Washington, with talks expected to focus on ways to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine and on tariffs

Read about developments and news from Germany on Thursday, June 5, 2025:

06/05/2025June 5, 2025

German Foreign Minister Wadephul hosts Israeli counterpart, Gideon Saar

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar will meet with his German counterpart, Johann Wadephul, in Berlin on Thursday, a day after Wadephul promised that Germany would send more arms to Israel despite growing international calls for a weapons embargo.

In the morning, the two top diplomats are scheduled to lay a wreath at Berlin's Holocaust Memorial, which commemorates the murder and persecution of Jews in Europe under Germany's Nazi regime from 1933 to 1945.

Saar's official visit is to conclude with a joint press conference at the Foreign Ministry in the early afternoon.

Several human rights groups and NGOs are planning a rally in front of the ministry in protest against Israel's war in the Gaza Strip, which has killed thens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave.

Wadephul's promise of more arms deliveries to Israel on Wednesday came as an apparent reversal of comments made to the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung last week.

There, he suggested that further arms shipments to Israel were dependent on a government review of whether Israeli actions in Gaza complied with international humanitarian law.

Israel launched its offensive in the Gaza Strip in response to raids led by the Palestinian militant group Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and some 250 hostages were taken.

The country is now coming under increasing international pressure to stop its military operation in view of the desolate humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory.

The parliamentary session on Wednesday where Wadephul was questioned on Germany's Israel policy was disrupted when Left Party lawmaker Cansin Köktürk was ordered to leave the room because she was wearing a T-shirt with "Palestine" written on it. Bundestag President Julia Klöckner accused Köktürk of being in contravention of rules banning political slogans on clothing in parliament.

06/05/2025June 5, 2025

Welcome to our coverage

And it's guten Tag again from the DW newsroom!

You can follow events during Chancellor Friedrich Merz's first official visit to the US here, with all eyes on the German leader as he prepares for talks with his redoubtable US counterpart, President Donald Trump.

Thursday will also see a visit by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar to Berlin at a time when ties between Germany and Israel are burdened by controversy over the war in Gaza.

We'll bring you up to speed with headlines, analyses, multimedia content and DW on-the-ground reporting on events and developments in and connected with Germany. Thank you for joining us!