President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Tel Aviv on Tuesday to express France’s “full solidarity” with Israel after the attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas which left more than 1,400 dead on October 7, noted a journalist from the AFP.
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The head of state will also call for “preserving the civilian populations” in Gaza while Israel has launched massive airstrikes there in response to the attack with the stated objective of “destroying” Hamas, indicated the ‘Elysium.
He will notably plead for a “humanitarian truce” in order to allow access of aid to Gaza, under complete blockade, and the exit from this territory of hostages taken by Hamas during the attack, indicated the Élysée .
The head of state will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog as well as opposition leaders Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid in Jerusalem.
Emmanuel Macron and Benjamin Netanyahu will make a statement to the press following their interview at 1 p.m. (10 a.m. GMT).
The president will also meet in Tel Aviv with families of French or Franco-Israeli people killed in the attack or taken as hostages by Hamas in Gaza.
At least 30 French nationals were killed, the heaviest death toll since the attack of July 14, 2016 in Nice (86 dead) in the south of France, and seven are missing, including a safe hostage and several others probably detained by Hamas in Gaza.
Emmanuel Macron also intends to “continue mobilization to avoid a dangerous escalation in the region”, particularly between the powerful Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, supported by Iran, and Israel.
The head of state will also propose relaunching a “genuine peace process” for the creation of a Palestinian state, with in return the commitment of the countries of the region to “the security of Israel”.
To do this, he will “probably have discussions” with the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, the King of Jordan Abdallah II, the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and the leaders of the Gulf, indicated the Élysée.
The head of state is visiting Israel after US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Italian Prime Minister Giorgina Meloni. He insisted that he would make such a trip if it could be “useful” to the region.