A French Navy ship will leave this week with goods destined for hospitals in the Gaza Strip, French President Emmanuel Macron announced this Wednesday after a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
The French president praised Egypt’s role in the reopening of the Rafah crossing, the only border crossing in the Gaza Strip that is not controlled by Israel, but noted that “the situation is critical” in the Palestinian territory since the new crisis in the Middle East. on October 7.
“In the next 48 hours” a military ship will leave Toulon “to support Gaza hospitals,” Macron said, reporting that a French plane will arrive in Egypt on Thursday with aid for the Palestinian territory surrounded by Israel and on the brink of war. humanitarian collapse.
Macron called for respect for civilians in any context, stating that “France does not practice double standards” and that “international law applies to everyone,” in a veiled message to both Israeli forces and Palestinian militants from Hamas, the movement Islamist who controls the enclave.
“All lives matter, there is no hierarchy,” stressed the French president after the meeting with Al Sisi, after having met in recent days with other regional leaders, including the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Palestinian president. . Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.
The Egyptian president also condemned any action that affects civilians, stressing that he refers to “all civilians”, and expressed his fear about the consequences for the population of a ground invasion by Israel and the extension of the conflict to other areas. region of. .or even around the world, and called for the release of the hostages held by Hamas.
The Islamist group launched a surprise attack in southern Israel on October 7 with the launch of thousands of rockets and the incursion of armed militiamen, taking two hundred hostages.
In response, Israel declared war on Hamas, a movement that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and is classified as terrorist by the European Union and the United States, bombing several of the group’s infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and imposing a total siege. to the territory with a cut in the supply of water, fuel and electricity.
The conflict has already caused thousands of deaths and injuries, between soldiers and civilians, in both territories.
Source: TSF
