By Sarah Marsh and Andreas Rinke

BERLIN (Reuters) -German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is under pressure to take a firmer stance towards Israel, with members of his own coalition calling for Berlin to join a statement by dozens of Western nations condemning the "inhumane killing" of Palestinians.

Merz, who leads Germany's centre-right CDU, has been increasingly critical of Israel. But Germany was notably absent from the joint statement issued on Monday by the EU and 28 Western countries including Britain and France, which called on Israel to immediately end the war.

The countries condemned what they called the "drip feeding of aid" to Palestinians in Gaza and said it was "horrifying" that more than 800 civilians had been killed while seeking aid.

Reem Alabali Radovan, international development minister in Merz's cabinet and a member of the centre-left SPD junior coalition partners, said on Tuesday she was unhappy with Germany's decision not to sign it.

"The demands in the letter from the 29 partners to the Israeli........

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