French President Emmanuel Macron said in a meeting with his Israeli counterpart that he was not "accusing Israel of intentionally harming civilians" in Gaza, referring to remarks made during an interview with the BBC, the Israeli presidency said Sunday. Israeli President Isaac Herzog welcomed the phone call which allowed Macron to "clarify" his remarks, according to a statement from the Israeli president's office.
In an interview with the BBC broadcast on Friday night, Macron "urged Israel to stop" the bombing of civilians in Gaza. "De facto, today civilians are being bombed. These babies, these women, these elderly people are being bombed and killed," he said. "President Macron has made it clear that he has no intention of accusing Israel of intentionally harming innocent civilians as part of the campaign against the terrorist organization Hamas," the Israeli presidency said.
'Unequivocal' support
The French president said his comments to the BBC "were about the humanitarian situation, which remains an important issue for him and for many countries." "He also stressed that he unequivocally supports Israel's right and duty to defend itself and expressed support for Israel's war against Hamas," the source said. Macron's remarks "caused a lot of pain and annoyance in Israel," the Israeli presidency said.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called them a "factual and moral error" at a press conference on Saturday. "The responsibility for the harm caused to civilians should not be placed on Israel, but on Hamas," the leader said. The war was triggered by an October 7 attack by Hamas on Israeli soil on a scale and violence not seen since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
The attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement killed about 1,200 Israelis, the majority of them civilians killed on October 7, while 42 soldiers have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of Israeli military operations on the ground in the territory, according to official Israeli figures. In the Gaza Strip, Israeli shelling killed more than 11,000 people, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas Health Ministry, which controls the Palestinian territory.