A coalition of "willing" EU countries will take up to 1,500 unaccompanied migrant and refugee children from Greek refugee camps on the islands, German government officials said late on Sunday.

"A humanitarian solution is being negotiated at the European level for a 'coalition of the willing' to take in these children," the German government said in a statement.

"We want to support Greece in the difficult humanitarian situation of about 1,000 to 1,500 children on the Greek islands," it added.