The large number of civilian casualties that would result from an Israeli assault on the Gaza city of Rafah would make regional peace “very difficult”, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sunday after talks with Jordanian King Abdullah, Reuters reports.

“Right now, it is about ensuring we come to a long-lasting ceasefire,” Scholz said after talks with Abdullah at his private residence in the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba.

“That would enable us to prevent such a ground offensive from taking place.” Asked if he was prepared to exert pressure on Netanyahu to stop such an assault, Scholz said it was “very clear we must do everything so the situation does not get worse than it already is.”

“Israel has every right to protect itself .. At the same time, it cannot be that those in Gaza who fled to Rafah are directly threatened by whatever military actions and operations are undertaken there.” Israel says Rafah is one of the last strongholds of Hamas, which it has pledged to eliminate, and that residents will be evacuated.

Scholz did not directly answer a question about whether Germany would react to a large-scale Rafah offensive, for example by restricting German weapons exports to Israel.