French President Emmanuel Macron called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call today to stop strikes on Gaza and return to a ceasefire, at a time when Israel continues its bombardment of the Palestinian territory.
"I called on the Israeli prime minister to stop the strikes on Gaza and to return to a ceasefire that Hamas should accept. I underlined that the delivery of humanitarian aid must resume immediately," the French president wrote on the social network X.
A fragile ceasefire that came into effect on February 19 after 15 months of war and allowed several weeks of relative peace in the Gaza Strip was broken on March 18 when Israel resumed its bombing and ground offensive in the Palestinian territory.
A senior Hamas official said on Saturday that the Palestinian movement had accepted a new proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip presented by mediators, calling on Israel to accept it as well.
Emmanuel Macron also called on Israel today to strictly respect the ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israel bombed southern Beirut on Friday for the first time after a four-month ceasefire.
"This request applies to all parties, to guarantee all security to the civilian population on both sides of the Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon," Macron added.
Macron, who received Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in Paris on Friday, again appealed for the establishment of full sovereignty for Lebanon, and that this requires the complete withdrawal of Israel from Lebanese territory and support for the Lebanese government to re-establish a monopoly on possession of weapons.
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