German Chancellor Angela Merkel postponed a scheduled visit to Israel at the end of the week, against the background of the recent evacuations from Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power.
A spokesman for the chancellor said in a statement, today, Thursday, that Merkel's visit to Israel, scheduled for August 28-30, was canceled in coordination with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, given the developments in Afghanistan.
He added that the two sides agreed that the German chancellor's visit would take place at a later date, which he did not specify.
The postponement of Merkel's visit came in conjunction with two explosions that rocked Kabul International Airport on Thursday evening, killing and wounding dozens, and media outlets confirmed that among the injured were American soldiers.
Merkel, who is withdrawing from politics after next month's general elections, was supposed to hold talks with Bennett and Israeli President Isaac Herzog, and receive an honorary doctorate from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa.
During her 16-year tenure, Merkel described Israel's national security as a critical priority of German foreign policy, given her country's historical responsibility for the Holocaust.
The chancellor was also scheduled to lay a wreath at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, in the presence of Bennett, who is currently visiting the United States.
Germany is participating in the military operation conducted by NATO members to evacuate Afghans in need of protection, and is intensifying its efforts to complete the withdrawal of its forces and personnel.
It had announced that its operations could not continue when the Americans completed their withdrawal before the August 31 deadline, which caused a significant acceleration in air evacuations of the largest possible number of people before time ran out.
So far, the German army has evacuated more than 5,300 people, according to the latest announced official statistics.