French President Emmanuel Macron suggested in Jerusalem on Tuesday that the international coalition currently deployed in Iraq and Syria to fight Islamic State could also act against Hamas.
“France is ready so that the international coalition against Islamic State, in which we are involved, can also fight against Hamas,” Macron said after a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I propose to our international partners that we form a regional and international coalition to fight against the terrorist groups that threaten us all,” he stressed. quoted by the French agency AFP.
The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and Israel.
Macron traveled to Israel today to express France’s solidarity after the October 7 Hamas attack that left 1,400 dead, according to Tel Aviv authorities.
Hamas has also kidnapped more than 200 Israelis and foreigners it is holding hostage in the Gaza Strip, four of whom have since been released.
Israel declared war on Hamas and has since bombed the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million people, daily, with a death toll of nearly 5,800, the Islamist group said.
“It is a black page in our history,” said Macron, who expressed his condolences to Israel for the “most terrible act of terror” it has suffered since it declared independence in 1948.
Shortly after arriving at Tel Aviv airport, Macron met with the families of French nationals or dual nationals who had been killed, missing or held hostage in the Gaza Strip.
“The first goal we must have today is the release of all hostages, without any discrimination,” Macron said during a meeting with his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog.
Macron also defended that Israel should recognize the Palestinians’ legitimate right to their own state.
He therefore advocated “the decisive resumption of the political process with the Palestinians”.
Macron is expected to travel to Ramallah, in the West Bank, later today to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
The French presidency announced that after a visit to Israel and the West Bank, Macron will go to Amman to meet King Abdullah II of Jordan and “perhaps other leaders in the region.”
Source: DN
