BERLIN, Sept 4, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock 
was to leave for a Middle East trip Wednesday, Berlin said as efforts 
continue towards a deal between Israel and Hamas to end the Gaza war.

Pressure has mounted on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to 
a deal to end the fighting, days after Israel's military recovered six killed 
hostages from a Gaza tunnel.

Baerbock will set off Wednesday evening for Saudi Arabia where she will hold 
talks with Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, foreign ministry 
spokeswoman Kathrin Deschauer said.

The talks will focus on "the dramatic situation in the region" and "the 
ongoing attacks by the radical Islamist Huthi militia from Yemen on 
international shipping", Deschauer said.

Baerbock will then head to Jordan and meet her counterpart Ayman Safadi to 
discuss "in particular the issue of coordinating humanitarian aid for the 
people in Gaza".

She will then travel to Israel, where she will meet Foreign Minister Israel 
Katz and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

"These talks will focus on plans for an immediate and urgently needed 
humanitarian ceasefire, which should lead to the release of the hostages and 
urgently needed humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza," Deschauer said.

Baerbock will then head to the occupied West Bank, the site of recent heavy 
clashes, where she will meet Palestinian Authority prime minister Mohammed 
Mustafa to discuss "how an imminent escalation of violence in the West Bank 
can be prevented".

The trip will be Baerbock's ninth to Israel and her 11th to the Middle East 
since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the war, Deschauer 
said.

The October 7 Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly 
civilians and including hostages killed in captivity, according to an AFP 
tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel's campaign against Hamas since October 7 has killed at least 40,861 
people in Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry. The UN rights 
office says most of the dead are women and children.