PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday (Nov 8) called for a “ceasefire” in Gaza when he opened a conference on aid for the Palestinian territory, under bombardment by Israel since the Oct 7 attack by Hamas.
“In the immediate term, we need to work on protecting civilians. To do that, we need a humanitarian pause very quickly and we must work towards a ceasefire,” Macron told delegates in Paris.
Israel has stayed away from the talks on aid for civilians in the enclave of 2.4 million people, where the Hamas-run health ministry says Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 10,500 people, many of them children.
Hamas militants stormed across the border from Gaza into Israel on Oct 7, killing more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and taking more than 240 hostages, Israeli officials say.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel retaliated with a massive, relentless bombardment and ground invasion.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said there will be no fuel delivered to Gaza and no ceasefire with Hamas unless the hostages are freed.
Macron spoke to Netanyahu on Tuesday and the pair will talk again once Thursday’s aid conference is over, the Elysee Palace said.
Moshe Tetro, an Israeli military officer handling civil affairs in Gaza, said on Thursday that although “the civil situation in the Gaza Strip is not an easy one”, the state sees “no humanitarian crisis”.
Negotiations are underway for the release of a dozen hostages held by Hamas, including six Americans, in return for a three-day ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, a source close to Hamas told AFP on Wednesday.
Another source said Qatar was mediating negotiations in coordination with the United States to free “10-15 hostages in exchange for a one- to two-day ceasefire”.
Qatar, like Egypt, has been playing a key role in attempts to bring more aid into the Gaza Strip.
Macron spoke to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on Tuesday, his office said.
Source: CNA
