PARIS (Reuters) – Emmanuel Macron will visit Israel when a “concrete agreement” can be reached on a non-escalation of the conflict or on the humanitarian situation, he declared on Tuesday during a press conference in Albania.
“My desire is to be able to travel (to Israel) when we can obtain a concrete agreement either on non-escalation, or on humanitarian issues and more broadly on everything,” said the French president in Tirana, during a joint press conference with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.
The French president specified that this trip could take place “in the coming days” or “in the coming weeks”.
“For France, the security of Israel, the fight against all terrorist groups but also the peace process and the political solution are an inseparable whole,” added Emmanuel Macron.
The French leader reiterated Israel’s “legitimacy” to defend itself while recalling that any democracy must respect international humanitarian law.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna visited Israel and the region this weekend at the request of the French head of state, calling for the release of all French hostages.
The latest report shows 19 French nationals killed in Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7 and 13 missing.
(Writing by Bertrand Boucey and Zhifan Liu, editing by Kate Entringer)
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