The French president spoke with the Israeli prime minister as Paris prepared more humanitarian aid for Gaza.
French President Emmanuel Macron told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that there were “too many civilian casualties” in Israel’s war in Gaza, as Paris prepared more humanitarian aid for the besieged enclave.
Israel said it wanted to destroy the Palestinian armed group after it killed around 1,200 people and captured hundreds more in a surprise attack on October 7.
More than 13,000 people in Gaza, about 70 percent of them women and children according to the United Nations, were killed in the air and ground offensive. Hospitals, schools and refugee camps have also been the target of sustained attacks.
According to a statement from Macron’s office on Sunday, the French president reminded Netanyahu of the “absolute necessity of distinguishing terrorists from the population” and “the importance of reaching an immediate humanitarian truce leading to a ceasefire.”
Macron also condemned violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank, the statement said. More than 200 Palestinians have been killed there since Israel began its war in Gaza.
The French leader told Netanyahu of his “great concern about the escalation of violence against Palestinian civilians” in the occupied West Bank and called for calm.
Macron also spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is part of the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank.
He stressed to Abbas “the need for the Palestinian Authority and all countries in the region to unequivocally and in the strongest terms condemn the terrorist attack perpetrated by Hamas in Israel on October 7.”
Earlier on Sunday, Macron announced new humanitarian aid for Gaza where there are growing fears of famine.
The president said France would send a plane with more than 10 tons of medical supplies early this week and would contribute to European Union medical aid flights on Nov. 23 and 30.
It is also preparing a second hospital ship, the helicopter carrier Dixmude, which will arrive in Egypt in the coming days.
The French helicopter carrier – the Tonnerre, which has around sixty beds and two operating theaters – has already been deployed in the region.
The press release added that “France is mobilizing all its available resources to contribute to the evacuation of injured and sick children requiring emergency care from the Gaza Strip to its hospitals.”
Macron later said on X, formerly Twitter, that up to 50 children could be flown to be treated in hospitals in France “if it is useful and necessary.”
Earlier this month, French planes delivered 54 tons of aid to Gaza via Egypt.
