President of France, Emmanuel Macron has joined in calls for civilian protection in the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
He made these comments at an international humanitarian conference hosted by France at the Elysee Palace in Paris.
The gathering brought together officials from Western and Arab nations, the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations, with the aim of providing urgent aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s bombardment, with proposals for a humanitarian maritime corridor and floating field hospitals.
Also in attendance was Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh.
Israeli authorities weren’t participating in the talks, Macron’s office said.
“Civilians must be protected, ” Macron said, adding that it is “indispensable and non-negotiable and is an immediate necessity.”
“All lives have equal worth and there are no double standards for those of us with universal and humanist values.
“Fighting terrorism can never be carried out without rules. Israel knows that. The trap of terrorism is for all of us the same: giving in to violence and renouncing our values.”
Emmanuel Macron
In addition, Macron urged for a humanitarian pause.
“In the immediate term, we need to work on protecting civilians. To do that, we need a humanitarian pause very quickly and we must work towards a ceasefire,” Macron averred.
Israel’s allies have avoided calls for a ceasefire but instead called for “humanitarian pauses” to allow aid in.
Speaking at the start of the humanitarian conference on Gaza in Paris, UN aid chief, Martin Griffiths, said the world body must not help push Palestinians out of their homes.
Israel has told Palestinians in the heavily populated north of Gaza to move to the south, as its ground forces move in.
“The United Nations cannot be part of unilateral proposal to push Palestinians into so-called safe zones,” Griffiths said.
Speaking at the same conference, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) chief, Isabelle Defourny, called southern Gaza safe zones “fake zones”, and said about 30% of those killed in Gaza were in the south.
The United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Volker Turk, on Wednesday called out Israel for what he said was the “unlawful forcible evacuation of civilians.”
A War Against All Palestinians
Moreover, Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammed Shtayyeh told the aid conference in Paris that Israel was not waging a war against Hamas but against all Palestinians.
Shtayyeh added that international human rights law was being violated and that Palestinians need international protection.
Since the war began on October 7, the Palestinian Health Ministry said more than 10,500 people have been killed in Gaza due to intense Israeli bombardments.
Moreso, Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) criticized Israel’s war on Gaza in his speech at the conference.
Lazzarini was quoted as saying, “Thousands of children killed cannot be collateral damage.”
“Pushing a million people from their homes and concentrating them in areas without adequate infrastructure is forced displacement. Severely limiting food, water and medicine is collective punishment,” he added.
