In today’s edition of The Capitals, read about the EU edging toward Israel sanctions, a rough landing for the US-EU deal, China ripping into MEPs over Taiwan, and steel safeguards set to hit EFTA states.

By Sarah Marsh and Andreas Rinke BERLIN (Reuters) -German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is under pressure to take a firmer stance on Israel, with members of his own coalition calling for Berlin to join a statement by dozens of Western nations condemning the "inhumane killing" of Palestinians.

Israel ended a truce in Gaza in March, hoping to break Hamas. The move has heightened suffering for Palestinians but achieved few, if any, Israeli goals.

Israel will coordinate airdrops of aid into Gaza from foreign countries in the coming days, an Israeli security official confirmed to ABC News.

Germany is not planning to recognise a Palestinian state in the short term and said its priority now is to make "long-overdue progress" towards a two-state solution, a German government spokesperson said on Friday.

Former German president Joachim Gauck has criticized Israel's military campaign in Gaza, calling it "disproportionate" and "irresponsible. " "Too much suffering is being inflicted on too many innocent people to punish the guilty,

Macron shocked the world on Thursday when he broke ranks with his allies and announced that France would recognize Palestine as a nation-state.

The announcement comes after Elbit received an order on Dec. 23, 2024, from Lufthansa Technik to equip the German government’s Airbus A350 shuttle fleet.

LONDON — Britain threatened Tuesday to take further action against Israel if it does not agree to end the war in Gaza, a day after two dozen mostly European countries condemned Israel’s restrictions on aid shipments into the territory and the killings of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach food.