The French President and the Israeli Prime Minister spoke on the phone on Tuesday, July 2. They discussed the situation in Gaza and also in Lebanon.
On Tuesday, July 2, President Emmanuel Macron urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to launch a “new operation” near Khan Younès and Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
“He expressed his opposition to any new Israeli operation near Khan Younès and Rafah, which would only worsen the human toll and an already catastrophic humanitarian situation,” the Élysée Palace said.
“Immediate ceasefire”
Emmanuel Macron reiterated to the Israeli Prime Minister “the extreme urgency of establishing an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip” and called for the implementation of the plan presented by US President Joe Biden “without further delay”.
“He recalled the need to lift all obstacles at all crossing points to allow access to humanitarian aid commensurate with the immense needs of the population of Gaza,” the French presidency also stressed.
He also condemned “in the strongest terms the announcements of the legalisation of new outposts in the West Bank, which directly undermine the two-state solution and peace efforts.”
After launching a ground offensive on October 27 in the northern Gaza Strip in response to an unprecedented attack by Hamas commandos in southern Israel, the Israeli army gradually moved south, ordering civilians to evacuate the areas it was targeting.
On May 7, it launched a ground operation in Rafah, a town on the border with Egypt, then presented as the final stage of the war against Hamas, forcing a million Palestinians to flee, according to the UN.
But in recent weeks, fighting has intensified again in several regions that the army had said it controlled, particularly in the north of the territory.
“Preventing a conflagration” in Lebanon
The two men also discussed the situation in Lebanon.
Emmanuel Macron “reiterated his extreme concern about the increase in tensions between Hezbollah and Israel along the Blue Line and stressed the absolute necessity of preventing a conflagration that would harm the interests of both Lebanon and Israel, and would constitute a particularly dangerous development for regional stability,” the presidency added in its statement.
The Head of State stressed “the urgency for all parties to move quickly towards a diplomatic solution and reiterated the need to observe the greatest restraint.”
“The two leaders discussed the diplomatic efforts underway in this regard,” added the French presidency, while the emissary of American President Joe Biden, Amos Hochstein, is expected in Paris on Wednesday.
Amos Hochstein is due to meet the French special envoy to Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian, and the French president’s advisor on the Middle East.
