German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock says will travel to Middle East on Sunday

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will travel to the Middle East on Sunday for her seventh visit since the outbreak of the Gaza war, she said in a speech to parliament.

The visit will focus on “how we can set all the levers in motion” towards a “humanitarian ceasefire... as difficult and as hopeless as it seems right now,” Baerbock told the Bundestag on Thursday.

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The announcement came as government ministers from five Arab countries were meeting in Cairo with a Palestinian official to discuss the war ahead of talks with US top diplomat Antony Blinken.

The United States this week circulated for the first time a draft UN resolution calling for an “immediate” ceasefire, as warnings grow of famine in besieged Gaza.

The bloodiest ever Gaza war broke out on October 7 after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, resulting in about 1,160 deaths, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

Militants also seized about 250 hostages, of whom Israel believes 130 remain in Gaza, including 33 who are presumed dead.

Israel has since waged a relentless offensive against Hamas that has killed nearly 32,000 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza.

UN agencies have warned that Gaza’s 2.4 million people are on the brink of famine, and UN rights chief Volker Turk said Israel may be using “starvation as a method of war”.

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Baerbock on Thursday said Israel’s security was “non-negotiable” for Germany and that “like every country in the world, (it) has the right to defend itself”.

But she added: “The way in which the Israeli army and the Israeli government defend themselves makes a difference”, stressing that “this must be done within the framework of international humanitarian law.”

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