This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Germany approved nearly €800 million ($930 million) worth of military equipment exports to Israel in the first half of this year amid its ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, local media reported Wednesday.
The Economy and Energy Ministry disclosed the figure in its response to a parliamentary inquiry by the opposition Left Party, according to German news magazine Der Spiegel.
Export licenses issued between January and June exceeded four times the total value approved for Israel throughout 2025, the report said.
The surge came after Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government lifted partial restrictions on arms exports to Israel on Nov. 24, 2025.
Merz had suspended exports of weapons that could be used in Gaza on Aug. 8 after Israel decided to expand its military operations in the enclave. The restrictions remained in force for only about three and a half months.
Large-scale defense projects accounted for most of the sharp increase in approvals.
Of the €735.8 million in export permits approved during the second quarter, about 67% was linked to a naval project.
The report highlighted the INS Drakon, an air-independent propulsion submarine built by German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), which recently left a shipyard in Kiel for Israel.
READ: Germany should change Israel policy amid growing violence against Palestinians: Ex-envoy
A further 21% of the licenses covered joint projects involving German and Israeli companies that were deemed to serve the strategic interests of the German armed forces, or Bundeswehr.
The remaining approvals covered military equipment including small arms, ammunition, explosives and unmanned aerial vehicles.
Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed at least 73,470 Palestinians and injured 174,540 others since October 2023, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry. Most of the victims have been women and children, while around 90% of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure has been destroyed.
Lea Reisner, the Left Party’s spokesperson for international affairs, accused the German government of applying “unlimited double standards.”
She criticized Berlin for condemning statements targeting Gaza’s civilian population by Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir while continuing to expand military support for the country.
The Left Party renewed its call for an immediate and comprehensive halt to German arms exports to Israel.
Germany approved €327 million in arms and military equipment exports to Israel in 2023, €161.1 million in 2024 and €260 million in 2025. Its arms sales to Israel had increased tenfold in 2023 from the previous year.
Berlin has long been one of Israel’s strongest supporters, with German leaders frequently defending that support as a historical responsibility arising from Germany’s Nazi past and the Holocaust.
READ: Israel receives sixth Drakon submarine for its navy from Germany
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
- Trump calls US ammunition shortage reports ‘treasonous’ amid Iran war
- Palestinian elections confront an intractable reality
- Israeli army kills 3 Palestinians, wounds others in Gaza Strip despite ceasefire
- Tel Aviv threatens Iran with strikes on energy facilities if it attacks Israel
- Syria announces 1st chemical materials destruction since fall of Assad regime
- Israel’s plan for forced transfer with international complicity remains on the table
- Sovereignty without consent: Afghanistan’s Taliban and the limits of control
- A proposal seeks to exploit Americans’ debt to force them into wars against Israel’s enemies
- Slander and impunity: The World Central Kitchen killings in Gaza
- Israel seeks Trump’s backing to ethnically cleanse Palestinians
- Egypt rights group condemn new wave of arrest, call for emptying of prisons
- When the left speaks the language of Empire against Iran
- MEMO in Conversation with Prof Avi Shlaim
- Israeli forces raid West Bank, Jerusalem as settlers cut water supply to Tubas community
- Blair asked Palestinian Authority to remove ‘Palestine’ from schoolbooks
- Sudan’s Sovereignty Council chief inspects army’s readiness in Blue Nile State amid escalating clashes with RSF
- Egypt and China reaffirm support for Palestinian state, reject displacement
- The China paradox: A giant built on cracked foundations
- Pro Palestine groups call SNP’s failure on Israel boycott vote “a shameful chapter in Scottish history”
- Freedom Flotilla announces new mission to Gaza in October
- Katz says Gaza solution requires mass ‘emigration’, accuses Egypt of blocking departures
- Netanyahu says Israel will not withdraw from Gaza’s “Yellow Line,” plans to expand control
- Imprisoned Palestinian doctor reports continued assaults and threats in Israeli detention
- Organisations pursue prosecution of Turkish citizens serving in Israeli army
- Egypt, Turkey agree to cooperate on defence industries
- A homeland on canvas: Sliman Mansour and the rise of revolutionary Palestinian art
- Podcast by Jasim Al-Azzawi with Dr. Djavad Salehi Isfahni: US Plan: Financial Strangulation and Internal Implosion
- Syria excludes Kurdish women fighters from army, considers integration into interior ministry
- Palestinian churches call for international action to save Christian schools in Jerusalem
- Oslo at 33: Anatomy of an ongoing Palestinian disaster
- Can Syria turn foreign power into national power?
- 66 Palestinian villages forcibly expelled by Israel from West Bank since October 2023: Rights group
- Trump touts US control of Strait of Hormuz after striking Iranian boats
- Iran says 18 killed, 108 wounded in Tuesday’s US attacks
- Iran seizes barge for smuggling 382,000 liters of diesel
- UN chief ‘gravely concerned’ by renewed US-Iran exchange of fire
- Over 55,000 urge new UK premier to hold Israel accountable over Gaza genocide
- Is Evidence of Genocide in Gaza Being Erased? | Palestine This Week
- No equal talks under siege: The contradiction at the heart of US policy on Iran
- US must fulfill commitments before Iran reopens Strait of Hormuz: Parliament speaker
- Germany approves nearly $930M in arms exports to Israel amid Gaza genocide
- Australian judge says IHRA definition ‘does not reflect’ true meaning of anti-Semitism
- Spanish police report alleges Morocco orchestrated mass migration into Ceuta
- Washington reclaims Latin America through energy as Israel returns to Caracas
- Qatar, Egypt, Jordan condemn Iranian attacks on Arab states, warn of regional escalation
- Over 230 former Dutch officials urge tougher measures against Israel
- Coalition forces down 10 drones over Iraq’s Erbil: Counterterrorism unit
- Xi backs Mideast countries in building new security architecture, urges no marginalization of Palestine
- 4 IRGC Aerospace Force members among 7 killed in US strikes in western, southern Iran
- Israeli forces detain 12 Palestinians, with occupiers burning 2 vehicles in West Bank
