Paris:

French President Emmanuel Macron called Saturday for a halt on arms deliveries to Israel for use in Gaza, provoking a sharp response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Macron also criticised Netanyahu’s decision to send troops into ground operations in Lebanon.

“I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza,” Macron told French broadcaster France Inter.

“France is not delivering any,” he added during the interview, which was recorded Tuesday.

Macron reiterated his concern over the conflict in Gaza that is continuing despite repeated calls for a ceasefire.

“I think we are not being heard,” he said. “I think it is a mistake, including for the security of Israel,” he said, adding that the war was leading to “hatred”.

His comments brought a swift response from Netanyahu.

“As Israel fights the forces of barbarism led by Iran, all civilised countries should be standing firmly by Israel’s side,” Netanyahu said in a statement issued by his office.

“Yet, President Macron and other Western leaders are now calling for arms embargoes against Israel. Shame on them.”

Israel was fighting a war on several fronts against groups backed by arch-foe Iran, the statement added.

Macron’ office responded with a statement of its own later Saturday.

France is a “steadfast friend of Israel”, it said, describing Netanyahu’s reaction as “excessive and detached from the friendship between France and Israel”.

Qatar, a key mediator in Gaza ceasefire talks, said Macron’s statement was “an important and appreciated step towards stopping the war”.

Jordan welcomed the French leader’s remarks and stressed “the importance of imposing a complete ban on the export of weapons to Israel” and “real consequences” for the country’s actions.

Ceasefire call

In his interview, Macron also said avoiding an escalation in Lebanon was a “priority.”

“Lebanon cannot become a new Gaza,” he added.

And he returned to the subject Saturday in a speech to a conference of French-speaking nations in Paris.

While both Paris and Washington had called for a ceasefire, said Macron, “I regret that Prime Minister Netanyahu has made another choice, has taken this responsibility, in particular, for ground operations on Lebanese soil.”

The 88 members of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF), including France and Canada, have called for an “immediate and lasting” ceasefire in Lebanon, he added.

But Macron reaffirmed Israel’s right to self-defence and said that on Monday he would be meeting relatives of Franco-Israelis held hostage in Gaza.

On Monday, Israel marks the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the Gaza war and has now engulfed neighbouring Lebanon, creating a perilous regional crisis.

The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity. Israel’s retaliatory offensive on Gaza has so far killed at least 41,825 people, a majority of them civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory. The UN has said those figures are reliable.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A woman walks past poster reading “Vote” ahead of the second round of the legislative election, in Strasbourg, eastern France on July 4, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

France’s far-right National Rally (RN) party will likely fall short of an absolute majority in forthcoming parliamentary elections, OpinionWay said in a poll for business daily Les Echos published on July 5.

The poll saw RN win 205-230 seats in Sunday’s vote, ahead of the leftwing New Popular Front with 145-175 seats, and President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist bloc with 130-162 seats.

For a ruling majority, 289 seats are needed in the National Assembly.

Astana, Kazakhstan:

French President Emmanuel Macron said today he “hates the debate” over the value of “Jewish lives” and “Palestinian lives” and called for “civilians in Gaza to be protected first”.

“I hate this debate dividing people and saying: ‘For me Jewish lives are more important’ or ‘for me Palestinian lives would be more important’. This is crazy,” Macron said on a visit to the Kazakhstan capital.

“All lives matter in this world,” he stressed, speaking in English to students.

Civilians in Gaza “have nothing to do with the terrorist attacks”, Macron said.

Hamas gunmen killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, when they rushed to the Gaza border into Israel on October 7 and took 240 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

Israel has relentlessly pounded Gaza in retribution for the worst attack in the country’s history, killing 8,796 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

“You have to attack and punish the terrorist groups but civilians are not the ones to attack.” Macron said.

“You have to protect civilians in your counter attack … in order to focus on the terrorist groups.

“I want to make this distinction because all lives matter in this world,” he stressed.

This was why France and other EU leaders called for a humanitarian pause in the fighting, Macron said.

“We have to protect first civilians in Gaza. Because they have nothing to do with these terrorist attacks,” he added

Ambulances evacuated wounded residents out of Gaza to Egypt in a first today, with hundreds of foreign passport holders also poised to flee the territory after three weeks of war.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)