“We have hope” concerning the French hostages, declares in Doha the Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu

Free the French hostages held by Hamas, “it’s been the priority from the start”, Sébastien Lecornu told franceinfo. The Minister of the Armed Forces is on a diplomatic mission to the Middle East, leaving at the request of the President of the Republic. He spoke with the Qatari authorities on Thursday, November 16, in Doha, Qatar being a mediator in the discussions to free the hostages held by Hamas.

franceinfo: You have just spoken with the Qatari authorities here in Doha, Qatar being a mediator to work for the release of hostages held by Hamas. Regarding the French hostages, do we have reason to be optimistic?

Sébastien Lecornu: This has been the priority from the start. France’s position on this obviously, as on other subjects, has not changed. We are here in Qatar, we were previously in the United Arab Emirates, in Saudi Arabia, in Egypt, but it is true that this stop in Qatar has a particular role, since it allows us to take stock. I will not expand publicly on the subject, but on the various discussions which are underway which the President of the Republic has supervised himself, we have eight missing, I use the word “disappeared” on purpose, and all is obviously done to obtain their release as quickly as possible.

US President Joe Biden speaks of optimism regarding American hostages. The United States says it believes in a hostage agreement, does France believe in it too?

We do everything to believe in it and this is also the hope that we will send to families. I will also have the opportunity to meet them tomorrow [vendredi] in Israel. They are upset. We have to put ourselves in their place: they have been experiencing an absolutely terrible tragedy for several weeks now, they are living in uncertainty. These missing people, sometimes, are very young. So here too, I believe that we must speak about these things with great seriousness.

“Yes, we have hope. But hope also requires concentration until the last minute so that everyone keeps their word.”

Sébastien Lecornu, Minister of the Armed Forces

at franceinfo

What message are you going to send to families tomorrow?

I will make a point with them, I am obviously at their disposal to answer their questions, perhaps being a little more talkative than I will be at your microphone, but you can obviously understand that. But I will also explain to them the extent to which everyone in the French state apparatus, in conjunction with various partners including Qatar, which I obviously thank publicly once again as the President of the Republic did, are mobilized for the release of these missing people.

Does the current offensive as it is being carried out in Gaza not risk calling into question and perhaps endangering the fate of these hostages?

Many were surprised – and it is surprising that they are surprised – that the President of the Republic is calling for humanitarian truces. If we do so, it is obviously because Israel has the right to defend itself. It must be said again and it is important, because it was Israel which experienced this terrorist attack carried out by Hamas; that obviously Israel must respect humanitarian law and that humanitarian truces contribute to the application of this law.

But underlyingly, there are two major security issues that we are trying to address: regional security, the fight against escalation, because it is obviously an important subject. And then the other issue, of course, is the safety of the hostages and securing their release. So yes, when we talk about a humanitarian truce, from the beginning, and from the October 12 declaration of the President of the Republic until today, there is an underlying common thread. It is obviously the safety of the people who are missing, or hostages. In any case, I prefer to say “disappeared”, with the uncertainties that we know.

You mentioned the words of the President of the Republic on Wednesday evening: “Protecting yourself is not total war without rules.” Is there a feeling that certain rules are no longer respected?

I think images are difficult. Once again, Israel has the right to defend itself. Israel is a democracy, a state of law, which must respect international humanitarian law and the law of war. And I will tell you, it is in Israel’s interest to respect him, since the situation in the region is tense to say the least. There are risks of escalation in Lebanon with Hezbollah, with Shiite militias in Iraq, with the Houthis in Yemen.

“I also invite our compatriots to zoom out: this is a conflict which could ignite the entire region and have absolutely considerable security repercussions, including on Europe.”

Sébastien Lecornu, Minister of the Armed Forces

at franceinfo

So what we are trying to do with the Head of State, under his authority, with Catherine Colonna and others from the beginning, given that France also has a particular voice with a certain number of countries in the region and I also think very strongly about the situation in Lebanon, we have legitimacy, a special place to deal with this country with the difficulties we experience there: it is clear that we must control this escalation. And that requires responsibility. And Israel must show responsibility in this matter while defending itself. This balance seems achievable to us.

You just mentioned the risk of escalation, how do you assess this risk?

It really is a daily battle. You know, we have 700 French soldiers in the UNIFIL detachment [Force intérimaire des Nations unies au Liban], which is the last important mandate of the Blue Helmets. And these 700 French soldiers, in a much larger group, are ultimately a force, not of interposition, as we have known in the past in other regions, but a force of observation and deconfliction to the border between Lebanon and Israel. These soldiers see rocket fire, sometimes even drones or missiles, passing overhead every day. So each day that passes is a day of very high tension and unfortunately all slip-ups are possible.

There is what is happening in Gaza, which obviously fuels all the emotions, they are very legitimate. There is what happened on October 7, we must not forget it, it is what also fuels Israel’s self-defense, and also a lot of emotion. We just talked about our missing people; there are also 40 French or Franco-Israeli deaths. So you shouldn’t have a short memory in this matter.

“But it is clear that before us, there is another issue, it is important and it is the obsession of the President of the Republic and of French diplomacy: it is to control any form of escalation. The situation maybe even worse than it is today.”

Sébastien Lecornu, Minister of the Armed Forces

at franceinfo

I don’t want to be alarmist, but it is your duty to control this escalation. And the way in which Israel takes care of, takes into account the civilian populations and the question of humanitarian truces, the question of humanitarian freight, of health support for the civilian populations of Gaza, certainly contributes to a form of deconstruction and de-escalation, if done well. And this is therefore the appeal that I will also make tomorrow in Israel to the competent authorities.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza is still very complicated. The European Union has raised the possibility of a sea bridge from Cyprus. Is it feasible?

The reality is that Europeans seek to be effective together. Because already, when we do humanitarian aid together, we are stronger. And behind it, there are logistical issues. We have already implemented airlifts, notably with French military planes, which we have made available to Catherine Colonna’s teams to allow this freight to be brought in. And there, we see it clearly, we have to manage to pool logistics on one side – planes, boats – and freight on the other.

The Quai d’Orsay is in charge of this affair. If the armies can compete, the President of the Republic has allowed us to do so. But it is clear that we have a duty of endurance in this aid, since there are more than 2 million people present in the Gaza Strip, a very large majority of civilians, women, children. . And so the need for help is quite massive.

You had mentioned the possibility of deploying health aid resources and doctors, but today we have the impression that this is blocked. How do you explain that ?

The discussion continues. I started my journey in Egypt, the neighboring country with this famous post of Rafah that everyone knows well. Here too, when it comes to diplomacy, we must also put ourselves in the place of our partners. Egypt has experienced major periods of destabilization and the fight against terrorism. Moreover, the question of the war in Ukraine was not without impact for this country, particularly for agricultural raw materials. In short, each country also has a risk of destabilization which can be domestic. And the Egyptian authorities, obviously, are very careful not to create an imbalance in the country. We can’t blame them.

Discussions continue, to enable us to be effective. You are right, France is already putting a lot of resources into the freight table. But there is the question of care, which is a major issue. The President of the Republic spoke about the health framework; in short, how we combine resources from both sides to be able to provide care. The ship “Le Tonnerre” was a logistics hub, our amphibious helicopter carrier which is in the eastern Mediterranean, is an advanced logistics hub.

“We have the ‘Dixmude’ which is on 24-hour alert in Toulon, which can set sail with a more substantial set of health resources. France is ready, and France wants to do more in terms of care and support for people injured, especially all these women and children. It’s absolutely heartbreaking, no one can deny that.”

Sébastien Lecornu, Minister of the Armed Forces

at franceinfo

So this will be part of the discussions that I will also have tomorrow in Israel, or later, because it is clear that this is done by several people with a lot of order. But I also had these conversations in the United Arab Emirates or in Saudi Arabia, because a certain number of Arab countries in the area are also seeking to organize themselves.