Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosted German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Jerusalem on Dec. 7. During a joint press conference afterwards, he said that he would hold important discussions with U.S. President Donald Trump at the end of the month on how to ensure the plan’s second phase would be achieved. [Reuters notes](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/israeli-pm-says-he-will-meet-trump-second-phase-gaza-plan-close-2025-12-07/) that the prime minister’s office in November said that Trump had invited Netanyahu to the White House “in the near future,” although a date for the visit has not yet been made public. Netanyahu said that he would discuss with Trump how to bring an end to Hamas rule in Gaza.
Merz, for his part, said that Germany was willing to help rebuild Gaza, but would wait for Netanyahu’s meeting with Trump, and for clarity on what Washington was prepared to do, before Berlin decides what it would contribute, but that phase two “must come now.”
But they clashed on the matter of Palestinian statehood. Merz [told the news conference that Germany wants a new Middle East that recognizes a Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel. “Our conviction is that the prospective establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel presumably offers the best prospect for this future,” the German Chancellor said.
