Emmanuel Macron will organize a memorial service “in the coming weeks” for the French victims of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas’s unprecedented attack in Israel, the French presidency told AFP on Thursday.
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“The president has decided to organize a memorial service in the coming weeks for the French victims of the October 7 terrorist attack in Israel,” the Élysée said.
“This tribute will take place at the Monument to the Victims of Terrorism in Les Invalides” in central Paris, the head of state’s entourage added, referring to the “Word in Memory of the Victims of Terrorism” statue. ”
The date of this honor has not yet been set.
According to a recent report announced by Emmanuel Macron in Cairo on Wednesday, 31 French or French-Israeli people were killed in the October 7 attack. In total, more than 1,400 people were killed on the Israeli side that day, mostly civilians massacred by Hamas, according to the latest figures from Israeli authorities.
Nine other French nationals are considered “hostages” in the hands of the Islamist organization in the Gaza Strip. They are among more than 200 people, men, women and children, held hostage by Hamas since October 7.
The French president returned on Wednesday evening from a two-day tour of Israel, the occupied West Bank, Amman and Cairo. He said the release of the hostages was the “primary goal” but also called for a resumption of the peace process surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian two-state solution.