German foreign minister heads to Middle East in Gaza truce push

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was to leave for a Middle East trip Wednesday, Berlin said as efforts continue towards a deal to stop Israel's war on Gaza.

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 dead 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 over a week of deadly Israeli raids, 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 beginning of Israel's war on Gaza almost one year ago, which has killed 40,861 Palestinians, the vast majority of whom are innocent civilians.