Merkel and ministers accompanying her begin with a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Quds and will hold other meetings during the day before returning to Germany in the evening, Reuters reported.

Germany has remained party to the Iran nuclear deal, which lifted sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbing its atomic program, after US President Donald Trump withdrew from it in May.

But speaking in Amman, Jordan in June, Merkel said that European countries shared concerns over Iran’s ballistic missile program and called for solutions to its “aggressive tendencies” in the Middle East.

Netanyahu has repeatedly warned against Iran’s nuclear program and has said he would prevent the Islamic Republic entrenching in Syria and arming Lebanese Hezbollah and supporting Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinians have tried to get Merkel to persuade Israel not to raze a Bedouin encampment in the occupied West Bank. Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah met with a German diplomat on Wednesday to discuss the matter.