French President Macron meets with Israeli PM Netanyahu on solidarity visit to Israel (photos)

     

 

 

French President, Emmanuel Macron arrived in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, October 24 to express his country’s “full solidarity” with Israel after the deadly October 7 attacks by Palestinian militant group Hamas, according to an AFP journalist.

Netayanhu's visit comes more than two weeks after Hamas militants stormed into Israel from the Gaza Strip and killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians who were shot, mutilated or burned to death on the first day of the raid, according to Israeli officials.

Among those killed were 30 French citizens.

Macron will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express France’s “full solidarity” with Israel after that attack, the French presidency said. 

 

He is also expected to call for the “preservation of the civilian population” in Gaza, amid Israel’s relentless bombardment, and as it prepares for a ground invasion of the overpopulated Palestinian enclave.

 

More than 5,000 people, most of them women and children, have died during Israel’s attacks, according to numbers given by the Hamas-run health ministry.

Macron will in particular call for a “humanitarian truce” to allow desperately needed aid into Gaza, whose 2.4 million people have been largely deprived of water, food, electricity and other basic supplies after an Israeli blockade, the Elysee Palace said.

Macron and Netanyahu were due to hold a joint press conference at 1:00 p.m. (1000 GMT).

The French head of state was also due to meet Israeli President Isaac Herzog, as well as opposition leaders Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid in Jerusalem.

Seven French citizens are still missing: one of them, a French woman, has been confirmed as among the more than 200 people Israel says were taken hostage by Hamas.

 

The French president also aims to continue efforts “to avoid a dangerous escalation in the region”, the Elysee said, amid growing alarm over swelling cross-border exchanges between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

 

Macron will propose relaunching a “true peace process”, with the aim of creating a viable Palestinian state in exchange for guarantees from regional powers towards “Israel’s security”.

There will also probably be meeting with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, King Abdullah II of Jordan, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and leaders of Gulf nations, the Elysee said.

US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have already visited Israel since the October 7 attacks.