President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Tel Aviv on Tuesday to express France’s “total solidarity” with Israel following the attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas that killed more than 1,400 people on October 7, an AFP journalist noted.
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The head of state will also call for the “protection of the civilian population” in Gaza, while Israel has carried out massive air strikes there in response to the attack with the declared aim of “destroying” Hamas, Elysium said.
In particular, he will advocate for a “humanitarian ceasefire” to allow aid access to the Gaza Strip under a complete blockade and the withdrawal from the area of the hostages captured by Hamas during the attack, the Élysée said.
The head of state will meet in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and opposition leaders Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid.
Emmanuel Macron and Benjamin Netanyahu will make a statement to the press following their interview at 1:00 p.m. (10:00 GMT).
The president will also meet in Tel Aviv with families of French or French-Israeli people killed in the attack or taken hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
At least 30 French nationals were killed, the highest death toll since the July 14, 2016 attack in Nice (86 dead) in southern France, and seven are missing, including a safe hostage and several others, probably held by Hamas in Gaza were detained.
Emmanuel Macron also intends to “continue mobilization to prevent a dangerous escalation in the region,” particularly between the powerful Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, and Israel.
The head of state will also propose relaunching a “real peace process” to create a Palestinian state, with the commitment of the countries of the region in return for the “security of Israel.”
To this end, he will “likely hold talks” with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, King of Jordan Abdallah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and Gulf leaders, the Élysée indicated.
The head of state is visiting Israel after US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Italian Prime Minister Giorgina Meloni. He insisted he would undertake such a trip if it could be “useful” to the region.