AFP, Berlin

Germany wants to organise an international conference with Egypt for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said yesterday, as Israel and Hamas edged closer to ending hostilities.

The main goal of this conference “should be to address the most urgent needs, such as rebuilding water and energy supplies and medical care”, Merz said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for the German development ministry said Friday that Berlin could quickly provide 850 temporary accommodation units for Gaza.

“Fifty of them are in Ramallah and can quickly be brought to Gaza so that people can be provided with urgently needed shelter,” she said, adding that 90 to 92 percent of Gaza’s buildings have been badly damaged or destroyed.

On Friday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the government had “approved the framework” of a hostage release deal with Hamas.

Merz said the deal must be “implemented swiftly” and that “the hostages, including German nationals, must finally return to their families.”

“Humanitarian aid must quickly reach the people in Gaza,” he added.

Merz said Germany would provide an additional 29 million euros ($33.6 million) in humanitarian aid and would also help in “supporting the medical and psychological care of the released hostages”.

Netanyahu said on Friday that 48 hostages were still in Gaza, 20 of them still alive and 28 dead.

One of the dead is understood to be an Israeli soldier killed in 2014 whose remains are being held by Hamas.

Four of those still alive are reported to be German nationals.