Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz shake hands in Jerusalem on March 17, 2024. Photo by Leo Correa / POOL / AFP.
This article was co-published with Der Stern.
The German government coordinated its testimony with Israel before testifying before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague in April 2024, according to internal documents from the German Defense Ministry.
Germany, one of Israel’s staunchest allies and its second-largest arms exporter after the United States, came before the UN’s top court after Nicaragua brought a case accusing Berlin of complicity in the Gaza genocide over its delivery of weapons and other military equipment to Israel. Germany declared that no weapons of war from the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) had been delivered to Israel in 2023. The official documents, which were produced through a lawsuit that invoked the right to information under German press law, raise questions about the completeness of these statements to the ICJ.
Germany issued export licenses for military equipment worth almost €500 million throughout Israel’s war on Gaza, according to its own figures. While the commercial export of armaments is the responsibility of the Ministry of Economics, direct deliveries by the Bundeswehr are regulated by the Ministry of Defense. Shipments from the Bundeswehr are shielded from the public eye due to possible “adverse effects on the welfare of the German state” and international relations.
At the hearing on April 8, 2024, Nicaragua’s representative criticized the reported delivery of 10,000 rounds of 120-millimeter precision ammunition for tanks from Bundeswehr stocks following a request from Israel. In The Hague on the following day, Germany’s representative confirmed that Israel had requested the munitions but said it was “still being reviewed” and no license had been issued. The representative, Tania Freiin von Uslar-Gleichen, then said the Bundeswehr had not supplied weapons or ammunition to Israel since 2023, claiming “the only items supplied by the German Bundeswehr to Israel are medical supplies and helmets.”
Now, documents obtained by Drop Site and Stern cast doubt on the completeness of that account, indicating that Germany decided what to disclose to the court “in agreement” with Israel.
A document from the German Ministry of Defense dated January 29, 2025 states the government decided, “in agreement with the affected state,” to “disclose details beyond those in the arms export report” for the hearing. The “arms export report” produced by the Ministry of Economics does not contain complete and detailed information on the exported military equipment, but rather information on the total values of the goods exported.
Another letter from the same Ministry dated January 15, 2025 states “the differentiated information on Bundeswehr exports,” which were requested in the lawsuit, was “not disclosed in the proceedings before the ICJ.”
A Cologne Administrative Court decision from May 26, 2025, further confirms this, stating that Germany’s testimony that only “medical supplies and helmets” were supplied “was made, according to the respondent [the German Defense ministry], in agreement with the State of Israel.”
Another letter from the Ministry of Defense, dated July 23, 2025, refers to a “confidentiality agreement” with Israel.
The charges brought by Nicaragua mark the first time a third-party state has faced such a lawsuit at the ICJ. While the proceedings against Germany before the ICJ continue, Germany’s coordinated testimony in April 2024 successfully stopped the Court from taking emergency measures. It rejected Nicaragua’s request to halt arms sales in a preliminary ruling.
The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) expressed concern over Germany’s actions. When the German government declares that “information on deliveries from the German Armed Forces was only provided to the ICJ in agreement with Israel,” ECCHR told Drop Site and Stern in a statement, it appears “possible that the aforementioned goods were not the only goods sent after all, but only the only goods disclosed.” This would mean that “only part of the information” on the shipments from the Bundeswehr was disclosed — only the information that Israel agreed to disclose despite the alleged confidentiality agreement.
In the eyes of Matthias Goldmann, Professor of International Law, Germany not giving a full account to the ICJ would be a “political scandal” and “an affront to an international court.” If Germany had made incomplete or false statements before the ICJ, it would “clearly reveal Germany’s double standards and thus call into question its credibility and commitment to the rules-based world order.”
Germany’s Federal Foreign Office declined to comment on the statements made in The Hague.
Between October 7, 2023, and May 13, 2025, the German government granted export licenses for military goods to Israel worth €485.1 million. These exports include parts for armored vehicles, battle tanks and self-propelled howitzers, as well as rifle, cannon, and howitzer ammunition and more.
The shipments referred to by Germany in front of the ICJ likely took place at the end of 2023. In response to a parliamentary inquiry from January 2025, the German government claimed that the Bundeswehr had not handed over any such material to Israel in 2024. Concerning the year 2023, however, the government refused to reply, citing Germany’s security interests.
Although the government under Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced a temporary ban on exporting weapons that could be used in Gaza at the beginning of August, it approved exports of military equipment—not including “weapons of war“—worth at least €2.46 million for Israel between September 13 and September 22.
Since the tentative ceasefire in Gaza on October 10, it has been unclear how the German partial arms embargo will continue. A spokesperson for the German government referred to a statement by Chancellor Merz, which said the German government will “review its licensing practice for the export of armaments to Israel that could be used in Gaza in the light of developments on the ground”.
More than 68,000 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, 2023, according to Gaza’s health ministry, with more bodies being recovered every day.
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