The German Government has reached an agreement with the families of 11 Israeli athletes killed by Palestinian militants at the Munich Olympics in 1972, the New York Times said. The families had said they would boycott a memorial service commemorating the 50th anniversary of the attack. The last-minute deal came together after months of negotiations; the absence  of the athletes’ families from the memorial would have been a bitter reminder of a major crisis in the modern relationship between Israel and Germany, The Times noted.

“We welcome the fact that soon before the 50th anniversary of the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, an agreement has been reached for a historical inquiry, the taking of responsibility and suitable compensation for the victims’ families,” President Isaac Herzog of Israel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany wrote in a joint statement.

The sum offered is 28 million euros (about $28.1 million), according to Israeli officials. The German authorities have been accused of botching the response to the attack in Munich on Sept. 5, 1972 — which left the athletes and a German police officer dead — and of withholding information and documents from the families for decades. The response is considered one of the biggest diplomatic rifts in the special relationship that the two countries have tried to build since 1965, 20 years after the Holocaust.

Israel had maintained that the athletes were not adequately guarded, and that the German authorities did not allow Israeli forces to help in the rescue of the kidnapped athletes. After a botched rescue attempt, Germany refused to halt the Games despite demands by the Israeli government.