German president recalls hostages' plight on visit to kibbutz Be'eri

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has pledged further assistance to Israel to free the hostages still held in the Gaza Strip, as he paid a visit to kibbutz Be'eri, one of the Israeli communities ravaged during the October 7 attack.

"Their fate is an open wound," Steinmeier said of the 58 hostages still being held by Palestinian extremist group Hamas in Gaza.

"Germany will not forget them, I will not forget them. Our voice will not be silent as long as they have not returned."

The German president also noted the suffering of the civilian population in the war-torn Gaza Strip, which Israel has cut off from humanitarian aid for more than two months.

Kibbutz Be'eri is located some 4 kilometres from the Gaza Strip. Some 130 of the community's 1,300 inhabitants were killed when Hamas-led militants launched their unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

More than 50 people from the kibbutz were abducted to the Gaza Strip that day.

In total, over 1,200 people were killed and some 240 taken hostage to Gaza during the attacks, with 58 still believed to be held in the coastal area, including the bodies of six people from Be'eri.

Steinmeier was joined by Israeli President Isaac Herzog and their wives, Elke Büdenbender and Michal Herzog, in commemorating the victims of the attack.

Germany is providing financial support to aid the reconstruction of kibbutz Be'eri, co-founded by German Jews.

Berlin is providing some €7 million ($7.8 million) for a new cultural and community centre set to be build at the site of a former art gallery that was destroyed in the attack.

Herzog said: "The fact that we are rebuilding this building as a place of the spirit gives us hope."

Steinmeier was in Israel for a second day as the two countries mark 60 years of diplomatic relations.

To celebrate the historic milestone, Herzog visited Berlin on Monday.