- French President Emmanuel Macron has called on Israel to stop killing babies, women and elderly people in Gaza
- In response to Macron’s comments, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said world leaders should be condemning Hamas and not Israel.
- The war in the densely populated coastal territory, which is effectively sealed off, has prompted repeated calls for a ceasefire to protect civilian lives.
- Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia was to host an extraordinary joint Islamic-Arab summit in Riyadh on Saturday, the Saudi foreign ministry said.
French President Emmanuel Macron has called on Israel to stop killing babies, women, and elderly people in Gaza as the country comes under mounting international pressure, including from its main ally the US, to do more to protect Palestinian civilians.
In response to Macron’s comments, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said world leaders should be condemning Hamas and not Israel. “These crimes that Hamas [is] committing today in Gaza will be committed tomorrow in Paris, New York, and anywhere in the world,” Netanyahu said.
Israel faced mounting pressure to do more to protect civilians in Gaza as the death count rose. Calling for a ceasefire, French President Emmanuel Macron disagreed that the best way for Israel to “protect itself is having a large bombing of Gaza”.
Emmanuel Macron said there was “no justification” for the bombing of civilians and the deaths were causing “resentment”. “These babies, these ladies, these old people are bombed and killed,” Macron said during an interview with the media outlet.
Ruling out a ceasefire, Netanyahu said, “A ceasefire with Hamas means surrender.” He said that the responsibility for any harm to civilians lies with Hamas and not with Israel. Netanyahu insisted that Israel does not plan to reoccupy the Palestinian territory, but it seeks to give it a better future. “The impoverished and blockaded territory must be “demilitarized, deradicalized and rebuilt,” he said.
The war in the densely populated coastal territory, which is effectively sealed off, has prompted repeated calls for a ceasefire to protect civilian lives and allow in more humanitarian aid.
Heavy fighting between Hamas and Israeli forces has raged near Gaza’s biggest hospital, Al-Shifa after a strike killed 13 people at the medical facility. Aid agency Doctors Without Borders said it was “extremely concerned” about the safety of patients and medical staff at Al-Shifa hospital. The Israeli army has repeatedly accused Hamas of using hospitals, particularly Al-Shifa, to coordinate their attacks.
Amid the fighting, the Gazan health system was “on its knees”, the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told the UN Security Council.
Fighting has raged in Gaza for over a month following Hamas’ shock October 7 attack that killed more than 1,200 people and took 239 hostages. The retaliatory aerial bombing and ground offensive has killed more than 10,800 people in Gaza, mostly civilians and many of them children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The conflict has also stoked regional tensions, with cross-border exchanges between the Israeli army and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels say they have launched “ballistic missiles” at southern Israel. Saudi Arabia is hosting Arab leaders and Iran’s president for a summit this weekend in emergency meetings of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
(With inputs from agencies)
