2023-12-28 03:14:27
Emmanuel Macron reiterated his demand for a lasting “ceasefire” in Gaza on Wednesday, during a telephone exchange with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Élysée said, amid bombardments by the Israeli army have intensified in recent days in the Palestinian enclave.
During this telephone exchange with the Israeli Prime Minister, the French president stressed the “need to work towards a lasting ceasefire, with the help of all regional and international partners” in Gaza, according to the press release from the Élysée. “As such, France will work in the coming days, in conjunction with Jordan, to carry out humanitarian operations” in the Palestinian territory.
Emmanuel Macron expressed to Benyamin Netanyahu “his deepest concern about the very heavy civilian death toll and the absolute humanitarian emergency faced by the civilian population of Gaza,” adds the Élysée.
He also once again “insisted on the importance for Israel to take all necessary measures to put an end to the violence committed by certain settlers against Palestinian civilians” in the West Bank, “as well as to any new colonization project” in this territory. Last week, the head of French diplomacy Catherine Colonna declared that France would “take national measures against certain extremist Israeli settlers”.
More than 21,000 dead according to Hamas
Earlier in the day, the World Health Organization (WHO) had already warned that the population of Gaza was in “great danger” and that “hunger and despair” were worsening in the war-ravaged territory.
More than two and a half months after the start of the war, triggered by the bloody attack launched on October 7 by the Palestinian Islamist movement against Israel, the Hamas Ministry of Health announced Wednesday that 21,110 people, mostly civilians, including 6,300 women and 8,800 children, had been killed in Gaza by Israeli military operations.
In Israel, the attack left around 1,140 dead, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on the latest official Israeli figures. Around 250 people have been kidnapped by Hamas, of whom 129 remain detained in Gaza, according to Israel.
On the ground, the fighting knows no respite. Witnesses reported on Wednesday Israeli strikes and ground fighting in Khan Younes, the large city in southern Gaza considered by Israel to be an important Hamas stronghold, but also intense bombardments on the al-Maghazi refugee camps. and al-Boureij, in the center.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, in power since 2007 in the Gaza Strip, in retaliation for the October 7 attack, shelling the small territory and launching a ground offensive there on October 27 which cost the lives of 164 soldiers. , according to the army.
#IsraelHamas #war #Macron #reiterates #demand #lasting #ceasefire #Gaza