PARIS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by telephone on Tuesday with Israeli Minister Benny Gantz to whom he expressed “his deepest concern” in the face of the very heavy civilian toll and the situation of “humanitarian emergency absolute” in the Gaza Strip, the Elysée announced.
He also stressed that it was essential to avoid “any escalatory attitude, particularly in Lebanon”, reported the French presidency, adding that Paris would continue to “pass these messages to all the actors involved directly or indirectly in the area”.
The Elysée did not specify whether this interview took place before or after the death in the evening of the number two in the political bureau of Palestinian Hamas, Saleh al-Arouri, in a strike near the Lebanese capital Beirut.
Palestinian and Lebanese security sources said it was a drone attack carried out by Israel, which neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri.
Emmanuel Macron also declared to Benny Gantz, member of the war government set up by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that comments on a forced displacement of Gazans were “not acceptable”, while several Israeli ministers said recently been in favor of exiling Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
Such comments “contradict the two-state solution which constitutes the only viable solution for a return to peace and security for all,” Emmanuel Macron told Benny Gantz, according to comments reported by the French presidency.
(Report by Elizabeth Pineau, written by Jean Terzian)
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