France is going to evacuate injured or sick children from the Gaza Strip to treat them in French hospitals and will also reinforce its aid to the area. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, announced this in a message on Twitter (now X). The leader spoke on Sunday by telephone with the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, and later with the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as reported by the Elysée. To the first, he expressed the efforts made by Paris to try to reach a humanitarian truce as soon as possible and reminded him of the need for the countries of the region to condemn the acts of Hamas.
With Netanyahu he has raised the tone and warned him about “the humanitarian risks and the numerous civilian losses linked to Israel’s military operations” in Gaza. He reminded him of the “absolute need to distinguish terrorists from the population and to provide protection to civilians.”
Macron has insisted on the need for an immediate humanitarian truce so that aid can reach Gaza, leading to a subsequent ceasefire. “France is mobilizing all the means at its disposal, especially air, so that (these children) can be treated in France”, where “measures have been taken to accommodate up to 50 patients” in French hospitals, detailed the president, who He recalled that “humanitarian aid must arrive as quickly and as safely as possible.”
On Saturday he had spoken with the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah Al Sisi, and with the emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, to assess the situation. “Given that there are more and more civilian casualties in Gaza and that hospitals and schools are bombed, the president has recalled Israel’s obligation to respect international humanitarian law and the need for a truce,” the Elysée noted.
Following the Hamas attacks against Israel on October 7 and the Israeli response in Gaza, Macron has tried to show some balance in the conflict: he has defended Israel’s right to defend itself from Hamas, but has insisted that it must comply with the International law and not massacring civilians.
When he visited Israel after the attacks, he also went to Ramallah to meet with Abbas and has been, of all Western leaders, the most critical of Israel’s actions. In early November, the French president organized a humanitarian conference to raise funding to help the people of Gaza. Then, the participants agreed to 1 billion euros in aid.
At the beginning of the week, France will send an army plane with 10 tons of medical aid and two field hospitals with the capacity to accommodate 500 wounded each. Humanitarian materials will also be sent on European flights from November 23 to 30 and a hospital ship will set sail for Egypt this week. It will be used to treat the most serious cases.
Macron also recalled that the priority for France is the release of the hostages held by Hamas, of whom eight are French-Israeli citizens.