Germany plans to establish an airlift to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip with the support of Jordan, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday. The operation is set to begin "immediately," he said following a meeting of the Security Cabinet in Berlin.

The European Union is considering partially suspending Israeli access to funding under its flagship research programme, in what would be the bloc's first action taken against Israel in response to its actions in Gaza.

"The humanitarian catastrophe that we are witnessing in Gaza must end now," a joint statement from the three countries reads.