The French Foreign Minister, in an interview with the French daily Le Monde published on Saturday, criticizes the Israeli authorities, whom he considers to be responsible for blocking humanitarian aid in Gaza and “blaming” “unjustified” situations.
“The responsibility for blocking aid clearly lies with Israel,” underlines Stéphane Séjourné, noting that the catastrophic humanitarian situation “creates unjustifiable and unjustifiable situations for which the Israelis are responsible.”
France, together with Israeli authorities, has redoubled its efforts to increase the number of border crossings and humanitarian trucks.
But they “were not satisfied” and “the famine increases the horror,” laments the head of French diplomacy, who visited the region a month ago.
According to the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, the statement came after a humanitarian aid distribution turned tragic on Thursday, with an Israeli fire and stampede claiming 115 lives.
Stéphane Séjourné called on radio station France Inter on Friday for an independent investigation to shed light on this tragedy.
On Saturday, he estimated that we are “at a dead end in Rafah” in the far south of the territory, where, according to the United Nations, nearly a million and a half Palestinians are stuck on the closed border with Egypt and at the same time Israelis Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced an imminent ground offensive on Rafah to defeat the Islamist movement in its “last bastion”.
It would be “a new humanitarian catastrophe; We are doing everything we can to prevent this,” Stéphane Séjourné assured again, recalling that France has been pushing for a permanent ceasefire for months.
When asked how France and other countries could influence this conflict, the minister stressed that “everyone has their leverage.”
For France, “the recognition of the Palestinian state is an element of the peace process that must be used at the right time.” “This good moment will be assessed at the given moment,” he added.
He pointed to the impact of the issue of normalization with Israel on Saudi Arabia or military support from the United States.
“It is not us who can impose an arms embargo,” he said, pointing out that “it is a combination of elements that must be used in a coordinated manner at the diplomatic level.”