Paris (Union)
In an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde published yesterday, the French Foreign Minister criticized the Israeli authorities, indicating that they are responsible for preventing humanitarian aid from reaching the Gaza Strip.
Stephane Sigourney said: “It is clear that the responsibility for preventing aid from reaching the Gaza Strip is Israeli,” pointing out that the catastrophic humanitarian situation “leads to indefensible and unjustifiable conditions for which the Israelis bear responsibility.”
France intensified its efforts with the Israeli authorities to open additional crossings and allow trucks loaded with humanitarian aid to enter.
But that did not happen, and “famine increases the terror,” according to what Sigournet, who visited the region a month ago, explained. The French Foreign Minister's statements come after the tragedy that occurred last Thursday, when Israeli fire killed 115 people during the distribution of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip.
Yesterday, on France Inter radio, Sigournet called for an independent investigation to determine what happened.
Yesterday, he saw that there was a “dead end regarding Rafah” in the southern Gaza Strip, where about one and a half million Palestinians are concentrated, according to the United Nations, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he would soon launch a ground attack on Rafah.
The French Foreign Minister reiterated that this would be “a new humanitarian catastrophe, which we are doing our best to avoid,” recalling that France has been calling for a permanent ceasefire for months. Likewise, Sigournet noted that “recognition of a Palestinian state is an element of the peace process that must be used at the appropriate time.”
On the other hand, Sigourney said that there is no division between France and Germany, despite the clear differences between President Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Olaf Scholz over Ukraine.
He said in the same interview: “There is no French-German disagreement. We agree on 80 percent of the issues.”
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