France considers this Friday "indispensable" a resumption of the truce between Israel and Hamas. The move comes after hostilities resumed in Gaza as part of the war between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas since 7 October.
"The breaking of the truce is very bad news, regrettable, because it does not bring any solution and it complicates the resolution of all the issues that arise," said the head of French diplomacy, Catherine Colonna, on the sidelines of the COP28 climate conference in Dubai (United Arab Emirates).
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The brokered truce in the Gaza Strip, which has been in place since November 24, during which about 60 hostages held by Hamas were released, expired on Friday. The Israeli army resumed air raids and artillery fire, while the Palestinian Islamist movement resumed firing rockets into Israel. Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip have already killed "more than <> people and wounded dozens," according to the Hamas-controlled territory's health ministry.
"We demand that the truce be resumed. You must. This is essential both to continue the release of hostages who have now been in extremely difficult conditions for 55 days, and to allow more humanitarian aid to arrive and to be able to distribute it inside the Gaza Strip where the civilian population is suffering," the French minister said.
Four Frenchmen are still considered hostages or missing
"And then, in order to continue to think about the day after," "we have to do it now to restore a political horizon, to bring back to the table concrete discussions on how to strengthen the Palestinian Authority and achieve a two-state solution living in peace and security. This is the only viable solution, we know that, we must continue to work on it," she added.
While four Frenchmen are still considered hostages or missing since the October 7 attack, Catherine Colonna regretted that the breakdown of the truce would interrupt "what we had hoped would be a dynamic allowing the release of all the hostages". Four Franco-Israelis were freed during the suspension of the fighting.
French President Emmanuel Macron met his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Friday morning on the sidelines of the climate conference and held talks with Israeli President Isaac Herzog. On the other hand, an initially planned meeting with several Arab leaders simultaneously could not be held. The same is true of a bilateral meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman due to the absence of the oil-rich kingdom's leader.
Emmanuel Macron is due to visit Qatar on Saturday. The country is continuing its mediation efforts to promote a resumption of the truce and the release of hostages.