“France will not abandon its children,” the President of the Republic assured in a video broadcast on the eve of the hundredth day of the captivity of the Hamas hostages.
The war between Israel and Hamas enters its hundredth day this Sunday, January 14th. This will also be a hundred-day captivity for about a hundred hostages who were kidnapped in southern Israel on October 7th. On the eve of this symbolic date, Emmanuel Macron published a video on social networks in which he called for the release of the hostages and extended support to their relatives.
He reiterated that the “French nation” “is determined that all the hostages of the terrorist attacks of October 7th be released.”
He has a special word for it always three French nationals considered to be held by Hamas or missing for more than three months: Orión Hernández Radoux, 32-year-old Franco-Mexican, Ofer Kalderon, 53-year-old Franco-Israeli, and Ohad Yahalomi, 49-year-old Franco-Israeli.
“France will not abandon its children, which is why we must continue to reopen negotiations for their release,” said Emmanuel Macron.
He adds: “Never give in, never give up because we do not accept sacrifice and will not do so. That’s why we’ll do everything we can, and you can count on me to bring them all home with you.”
The President of the Republic also thought of Eitan, Erez and Sahar, who were released at the end of November last year, or of Elia, who was “killed by his captors in Gaza” and whose death he “mourned,” as he said.
“We will fight until the end”
In another video of about fifteen seconds, published on X (formerly Twitter) by the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France, Emmanuel Macron appears wearing a white T-shirt with the name of the collective of hostage families Bring Them Home Now.
“We are not giving up and will fight until the end to ensure that they are all released. Good luck,” continues the President of the Republic.
“I cannot be with you on Sunday, but I will be there in spirit and thank you for your mobilization,” said the President of the Republic, referring to the demonstrations that are scheduled to take place in Israel this Sunday.
The collective of hostage families Bring Them Home Now will take part, which has been putting pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu and his government for more than three months to secure the release of the hostages.
On October 7, around 250 hostages were kidnapped in southern Israel. Since then, 110 of them were released in late November in exchange for at least 240 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. To date, more than 130 of them are missing, and 25 of them died without their bodies being returned.
Some hostages were abducted after being injured, others suffer from chronic illnesses such as asthma or are suffering from poor health as a result of prison conditions. Last Friday, following an agreement with Qatar, the Israeli government announced that medicines would be sent to them “in a few days.”
Vincent Gautier and Juliette Brossault