France Could Toughen Its Position on Israel Over Gaza Aid: Macron

France could toughen its position on Israel over the aid situation in Gaza, French President Emmanuel Macron said on May 30.

“The humanitarian blockade is creating a situation that is untenable on the ground,” Macron said on May 30 during a joint press conference in Singapore with Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.

“And so, if there is no response that meets the humanitarian situation in the coming hours and days, obviously, we will have to toughen our collective position. But I still hope that the government of Israel will change its stance and that we will finally have a humanitarian response.”

Countries such as France and the UK have stated that Israel must immediately let aid into Gaza and enable the United Nations to operate.

In a statement to the U.N. Security Council on May 28, France’s delegation stated that “dozens of tons of assistance financed by France and other countries cannot be delivered to Gaza.”

It stated that “all obstacles to the entry and delivery of humanitarian aid and all restrictions on its quantity and composition must be lifted.” France stated that the very “limited quantities that have entered in recent days are not sufficient to meet the needs of the population, especially after 11 long weeks of total blockade.”

The UK government gave the U.N. Security Council a similar message on the same day and stated that “9,000 trucks wait at the border.”

“Our message to Prime Minister Netanyahu is clear: let aid in and enable the UN to operate, now,” said James Kariuki, the UK’s deputy permanent representative to the U.N.

According to a May report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global initiative aimed at “enhancing food security and nutrition analysis to inform decisions,” the entire population of Gaza is experiencing “high levels of acute food insecurity,” with one in five people, or about half a million people, facing starvation.

Israel disputes this.

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), a unit within the Israeli Ministry of Defense responsible for implementing government policy in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, stated that there is “no famine in Gaza.”

“The phrase ‘facing famine’ is misleading, as it refers to future scenarios projected by the IPC that have repeatedly failed to materialize since the start of the war and are based on assumptions that have been proven inaccurate and alarmist time and again,” COGAT stated.

Israel has restricted aid deliveries into Gaza since March, claiming that Hamas was stealing it and selling it to finance its military operations.

In a May 22 statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had consulted with Israel’s American allies regarding what to do “to prevent Hamas from looting the aid” and that, together, they had “devised a mechanism to achieve this goal.”

The U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) was created earlier this year as part of an Israeli-initiated plan to deliver aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza without interference from Hamas.

On May 25, Jake Wood, executive director of the GHF, resigned, saying that it was clear the plan could not be implemented while adhering “to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, which I will not abandon.”

Wood, a former U.S. Marine sniper who was appointed to the role two months ago, did not give further details.

Netanyahu accused the leaders of the UK, Canada, and France of being “on the wrong side of history” after they issued a May 19 joint statement calling for an end to Israel’s latest offensive and saying that they “oppose any attempt to expand settlements in the West Bank.”

Two-State Solution

In his May 22 statement, Netanyahu also appeared to rule out a two-state solution.

“When you establish a Palestinian state, we’ve seen it, the radicals take over. Iran sends them in, and they take over. So don’t give us this talk, ‘It’ll be a peaceful Palestinian state.’ It won’t be,” he said.

On May 28, the French president, speaking in Indonesia, reiterated support for a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

“Only a political solution will make it possible to restore peace and build for the long term,” Macron said. “Together with Saudi Arabia, we will soon be organising a conference on Gaza in New York to give fresh impetus to the recognition of a Palestinian state and the recognition of the State of Israel and its right to live in peace and security in this region.”

The conflict in Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists crossed the border into Israel, killing roughly 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages into the strip of territory they controlled.

Numbers this month from the health ministry in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, state that the ensuing conflict has killed at least 52,800 Palestinians. The numbers do not distinguish between combatants and civilians, and they cannot be independently verified.

Reuters, Chris Summers, and Andrew Thornebrooke contributed to this report.