(Updated with press release from the Elysée)
PARIS, April 22 (Reuters) – Emmanuel Macron reiterated on Monday, during a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his call for an “immediate and lasting ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip, condemning by elsewhere the intensification of attacks and violence by settlers in the occupied West Bank, reports the French presidency.
During this exchange, the Head of State also recalled France’s concern about a “general military escalation” in the region following Iran’s “unacceptable” attack against Israel, emphasizing the availability of Paris to work with its partners to avoid a “conflagration”, it is specified in a press release.
“Faced with the absolute humanitarian emergency in Gaza”, he renewed “his call for an immediate and lasting ceasefire” and “marked his firm opposition to an Israeli offensive on Rafah, which would only aggravate a situation already catastrophic.”
Recalling the need for a “two-state solution”, Emmanuel Macron “in this context expressed his strong condemnation of the intensification of violence and attacks perpetrated by settlers in the West Bank and called on the Israeli authorities to put an end to it” .
Colonization, he stressed, “constitutes a violation of international law.”
The Elysée also reports that Emmanuel Macron also spoke on Monday by telephone with the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, discussing the “risk of escalation” in the Middle East since the Iranian attack against Israel.
“They together insisted on the need for all parties to exercise the greatest restraint in order to avoid a regional conflagration,” specifies the Elysée in a press release.
“The two Presidents also shared their extreme concern about the deterioration of the already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and the obstacles to the delivery of aid”, adds the French presidency which recalls the “firm opposition” of Emmanuel Macron and Abdel Fattah al-Sissi to an Israeli offensive in Rafah. (Written by Sophie Louet and Zhifan Liu)
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