9/8/2025–|Last update: 01:50 (Mecca time)
The advisor to the French President for Middle East Affairs, Ofer Bronchetein, warned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans -wanted by the International Criminal Court -to occupy the entire Gaza Strip and the displacement of its inhabitants will lead to “a dramatic situation that can become disastrous at all levels.”
Bronztein confirmed – during his talk to Al -Jazeera – that France and the European Union will take a unified position to prevent the implementation of this step, if Israel moves to the stage of practical implementation.
However, he expressed his hope that this scenario does not happen, based on encouraging factors represented in the Israeli street opposing the continuation of the war and its desire to liberate the prisoners and end the fighting. This opposition was not limited to public opinion, but also extended to the military leaders and Israeli military officials as well.
Rather, the matter has evolved more than that, as the French official pointed out that these opponents communicate with US President Donald Trump to request his intervention by the Israeli government to stop the war, considering that this development is encouraging and calls for strengthening the voices of war opponents in order to become more powerful.
Brunstein stressed that the current situation is dramatic and related to a government that does not have the support of the majority of the Israeli people, pointing to Criticism of the Israeli Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir Publicly and unprecedentedly, the Israeli mini council, considering that the proposed operation means that the prisoners face a death sentence.
As for the potential French measures, Bronztein explained that Paris is facing a different situation from other European countries that have taken punitive measures, such as Germany, which has suspended its military exports to Israel, because France does not sell weapons to Israel except perhaps some pieces, without significant sales of weapons projects, and therefore the same German approach cannot be taken.
However, the French official confirmed that his country will take appropriate measures to understand Israel that it cannot go further in the complete occupation of the Gaza Strip.
In this regard, Brunstein indicated that Germany, despite its very close relations with Israel, took its firm position, indicating the seriousness of the situation.
European position
On a broader scale, Broncheteen stressed that France will clarify its position at the European and French levels, revealing that there are many papers that can be used to pressure Israel, stressing that the message will reach the Israeli government through all the necessary channels.
Brunstein stressed that France does not accept the military occupation of the Gaza Strip and its people, recalling the humanitarian crisis that has been ravaged by the Strip for two years, in a clear indication of the necessity of ending this continuous human suffering without delay.
It is noteworthy that the plan stipulates the start of the Israeli army to move towards areas that it had not previously entered in Gaza, with the aim of controlling it in the central Gaza and Gaza City, despite the warnings of the Chief of Staff of this step.
According to the offering presented by Netanyahu, the plan begins with the displacement of the Palestinians of Gaza to the south, followed by the city’s surrounding, and then the implementation of additional incursions into the centers of residential gatherings, according to the official Israeli Broadcasting Corporation.
During the continuous Israeli genocide in the Palestinian sector since October 7, 2023, the Israeli army occupied the entire Gaza City except for small areas and stayed for several months, before it retreated in April 2024 from most of its regions after announcing the destruction of the Hamas infrastructure in the city.
