EL-ARISH: French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday called the rapid resumption of aid into Gaza a “top priority” during a visit to the Egyptian city of El-Arish, a key transit point for supplies to the war-battered Palestinian territory.
“The situation today is intolerable,” Macron said near the border with Gaza, calling for the “resumption of humanitarian aid as quickly as possible”.
Nearly all of Gaza’s 2.4 million residents have been displaced – many multiple times – by Israel’s devastating military campaign, launched in response to the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel led by Palestinian group Hamas.
Israel resumed its assault on Gaza on March 18, following a nearly two-month-long ceasefire.
Since March 2, it has blocked the entry of humanitarian aid into the territory after disagreements with Hamas over how to proceed with the truce after its first phase expired.
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When asked about US President Donald Trump’s proposal to take over the territory and redevelop it into what he has called the “Riviera of the Middle East”, displacing its Palestinian residents, Macron said “it’s not a real estate project”.
“The reality is that you have two million people locked up… After months and months of bombing, of a terrible war, tens of thousands of people have lost their lives,” said the French president.
“You have tens of thousands of children who are mutilated without families. This is what we’re talking about when we talk about Gaza.”
‘Trapped, bombed and starved’
Alongside his Egyptian host Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Macron earlier toured a hospital in the port city, 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of the Gaza Strip, and met with medical professionals and sick and wounded Palestinians evacuated from Gaza.
Carrying a bouquet of red roses to give to patients, the French president visited several wards as well as a play area for children.
His office said the trip was aimed at piling pressure on Israel for “the reopening of crossing points for the delivery of humanitarian goods into Gaza”.
He also condemned an Israeli attack last month that killed 15 medics and aid workers, according to the UN and Palestinian rescuers.
“Above all, humanitarian workers must be protected when they intervene, because they are not stakeholders” in the conflict, Macron said.
Emergency department doctor Mahmud Mohammad Elshaer said the hospital had treated around 1,200 Palestinian patients since the Gaza war began in October 2023.
“Some days we can receive 100 patients, others 50,” Elshaer said, adding that many had limbs amputated or sustained eye or brain injuries.
In Cairo, Macron, Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II called for an “immediate return” to the ceasefire.
The three leaders met on Monday to discuss the war and humanitarian efforts to alleviate the suffering of Gaza’s 2.4 million people.
In a joint statement on Monday, the heads of several UN agencies said many Gazans are “trapped, bombed and starved again, while, at crossing points, food, medicine, fuel and shelter supplies are piling up, and vital equipment is stuck” outside of the blockaded territory.
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