German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert today to discuss the Jewish state's conflict with Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip and Iran's nuclear programme, Israeli officials said.
An Israeli official said before the meeting that Ms Merkel was "very curious" about the situation along the Gaza border, where violence threatens to complicate Palestinian statehood talks that resumed after the Annapolis peace conference in November.
Public pressure has been mounting in Israel for Mr Olmert to order a wide scale military operation against Hamas to curb cross-border rocket fire that has been disrupting life in towns and communities along the frontier.
While Mr Olmert toured Berlin's Jewish Museum, pausing to tell reporters that Israel was "at war" with Hamas, residents of the southern Israeli town of Sderot disrupted traffic in Tel Aviv to protest against his government's failure to end the launchings.
A senior Israeli official declined to comment on whether Mr Olmert would lobby Ms Merkel to support stronger Israeli military action in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, where 1.5 million Palestinians live in densely populated areas.
Israel's recent tightening of a Gaza blockade and cutback in fuel supplies, part of a declared bid to pressure militants to stop firing rockets, has drawn international criticism and raised fears of a humanitarian crisis in the territory.