Jerusalem’s decision to step up military operations makes it difficult for Germany to pursue its foreign policy priorities, Chancellor Merz said.

By Natan Galula, JNS

Germany on Friday suspended the export of “offensive” weapons to Israel, hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Security Cabinet approved expanding the war in northern Gaza.

“The Federal government will, until further notice, withhold approval for the export of any military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip,” Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in a press release.

He claimed that Jerusalem’s decision to intensify its military operations “makes it increasingly difficult” to pursue Berlin’s “highest priorities” to release the remaining hostages and reach a ceasefire.

“Hamas must have no role in the future governance of Gaza,” the German government said, while expressing “deep concern about the continuing suffering of the civilian population in Gaza.”

With Israel’s slated offensive, the Jewish state “bears an even greater responsibility for ensuring the population’s needs are met,” the statement read.

Germany’s export freeze does not apply to defense systems such as missile defense or naval equipment, Politico reported. Moreover, it may only affect new contracts, not deliveries from past deals, the report suggested.

Merz went on to urge Israel to continue taking “comprehensive and sustainable measures” to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, while also calling on it to avoid any measures toward annexing Judea and Samaria, such as the non-binding resolution in favor of applying Israeli sovereignty to Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley that the Knesset passed last month.

Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil, co-leader of the Social Democratic Party, supported the arms ban, saying that “the humanitarian suffering in Gaza is unbearable,” the Bild newspaper reported.

The Israeli Security Cabinet decided by a “decisive majority” to approve Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to defeat Hamas, including controlling Gaza City, the premier’s office said shortly before 5 a.m. on Friday.

The Israel Defense Forces will prepare for “taking control of Gaza City, while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside the combat zones,” the Prime Minister’s Office said.

The bimonthly Deutschlandtrend poll conducted by the German company Infratest dimap reported on Thursday that 66% of those recently surveyed believe that the country should apply more pressure on Israel to change its policy on Gaza, according to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW).

Although Merz has repeatedly said that Germany has a greater responsibility for Israel’s existence than other nations do, the poll showed that only 31% concur, the broadcaster added.

These trends may signify a shift in Israeli-German relations, which have been maintained largely on positive terms since diplomatic ties were officially established in 1965.

In June 2025, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said that Berlin will continue backing the Jewish state, in an apparent reversal of recent comments on the issue.

“Germany will continue to support the State of Israel, including with arms deliveries,” the top diplomat told lawmakers in parliament on June 4, the German news agency DPA reported.

Wadephul, a member of the ruling center-right Christian Democratic Union, spoke in the wake of an earlier statement that Germany might be forced to take “further steps” if Jerusalem continues to pursue its goal of destroying Hamas in Gaza.

“Our full support for the right to exist and the security of the State of Israel must not be instrumentalized for the conflict and the warfare currently being waged in the Gaza Strip,” Wadephul told reporters on May 27.