Macron Condemns Israel’s Gaza Offensive as “Shameful”; Netanyahu Accuses Him of Supporting Hamas
Occupied Palestine (Quds News Network)- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday of standing with Hamas after Macron said Israel's actions during the assault in Gaza were "shameful".
On Tuesday, the French president said he was “shaken” by the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip during an extensive interview on the television channel TF1.
“Shameful”, he used this word to express his views on the Israeli policies during the Gaza genocide.
“It's terrible. (...) There's no water, there are no medicines. They can no longer evacuate the injured," said the president, responding to the testimony of an emergency doctor who had traveled to the enclave twice.
"I say it forcefully, what the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is doing today is unacceptable," continued Macron.
“We need the United States. President (Donald) Trump has the levers. I have had tough words with Prime Minister Netanyahu. I got angry, but they (Israel) don’t depend on us, they depend on American weapons,” he said.
Macron emphasized that he himself had visited the border between Egypt and Gaza earlier this year where he saw that “all the aid that France and other countries deliver” is “blocked by the Israelis.”
“This is an unacceptable humanitarian tragedy,” he said, adding that “it is not up to a president of the republic to say ‘this is a genocide’ but rather to historians.”
“My job is to do everything I can to make it stop,” Macron also said, while raising the possibility of revisiting the European Union’s cooperation agreements with Israel.
In response, Netanyahu claimed Macron had opted to stand with Hamas and “echo its despicable propaganda.”
Macron is “demanding that Israel surrender and reward terrorism,” according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office. “Israel is engaged in a multi-front war for its very existence.”
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer also commented on Gaza on Wednesday, saying the situation is “intolerable and getting worse.”
“We are working with other leaders urgently to bring about a rapid and unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” he said.
An Israeli group, whose founder supported US President Donald Trump’s plan to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza and was founded by soldiers and former intelligence officers, was behind last year’s flights that facilitated the travel of hundreds of Palestinians from the war-torn Strip and landed in South Africa and Indonesia, an AP investigation has found.
Israel is reportedly planning to further restrict the entry of aid into the war-torn Gaza Strip, despite the so-called ceasefire and amid an already severe humanitarian crisis after two years of genocide.
While presenting the Oscar for Best International Film, Javier Bardem began his remarks by saying, “not to war and free Palestine,” drawing a loud round of applause from the audience at the March 15 awards ceremony.