Israel's President Isaac Herzog on Saturday offered German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier Israel's assistance in grappling with historic flooding from days of intense rainfall that has left at least 183 dead and dozens missing across western Europe.
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"I stated that we would be willing to help in any way," Herzog said of the letter he sent his German counterpart, which he said also expressed his sympathies for the lives lost from the flooding – the worst of its kind in modern history.
In Rhineland-Palatinate state alone, the police reported 110 dead and 670 injured. At least 27 people have also lost their lives in neighboring Belgium.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has called the floods a "tragedy" and pledged support from the federal government for Germany's stricken municipalities.
On Sunday afternoon, she visited the village of Schuld in Rhineland-Palatinate state, one of the two hardest-hit regions in western Germany, where the swollen Ahr river swept away houses and left debris piled high in the streets.
Merkel expressed shock at what she described as "surreal" and "terrifying" destruction caused by last week's flooding.
"It is terrifying," she told residents of the small town of Adenau in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. "The German language can barely describe the devastation that's taken place."
In a press briefing, she said, "Germany is a strong country. We will stand up to this force of nature, in the short term, but also in the medium and long term."
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She also called for a redoubling of political focus on curbing climate change. "We have to hurry up, we have to speed up the fight against climate change."
German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, pledged €300 million ($354 million) in emergency aid for people who lost homes and businesses, with the cabinet to discuss a much larger reconstruction package on Wednesday.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
