PARIS: Israeli representatives will not participate at a Thursday “humanitarian conference” for Gaza in Paris organized by French President Emmanuel Macron, his office said.
Like other governments, Israel nevertheless has “an interest in the humanitarian situation improving in Gaza,” an official in Macron’s office, who asked not to be named, told reporters on Wednesday.
Macron had spoken on Tuesday to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the pair will talk again once the aid conference is over, the Elysee Palace added.
The French leader had also spoken to Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on Tuesday, his office said.
Both countries are playing a key role in attempts to bring more aid into the Gaza Strip.
Fighting is raging more than a month after the unprecedented October 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas, sparking the deadliest-ever war in Gaza.
Hamas militants stormed across the border from Gaza into Israel on October 7, killing more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and taking more than 240 hostages, Israeli officials say.
According to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, the retaliatory Israeli military campaign has killed more than 10,500 people, many of them children.
Thursday’s aid conference has been put together in a hurry on the sidelines of the Paris Peace Forum on November 10-11, an annual event launched by Macron.
Recent weeks have seen growing calls for humanitarian “pauses” or a full ceasefire to allow aid to enter Gaza and keep hopes alive of freeing the hostages.
International concern over the fate of Gaza’s civilians, most of whom cannot flee the sealed-off territory, has prompted calls for a ceasefire.
But Israel has remained firm in keeping up its offensive, with a stated objective of destroying the Palestinian militant group Hamas — which has governed Gaza since 2007.
Netanyahu has said there will be no fuel delivered to Gaza and no cease-fire with Hamas unless the hostages are freed.
The UN estimates that $1.2 billion in aid will be needed for the populations of Gaza and the West Bank from now until the end of the year.
Israel to shun Paris Gaza aid conference: French presidency
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Israel to shun Paris Gaza aid conference: French presidency
- According to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, the retaliatory Israeli military campaign has killed more than 10,500 people
- UN estimates that $1.2 billion in aid will be needed for the populations of Gaza and the West Bank from now until the end of the year
NATO’s Rutte says Arctic talks with Trump will focus on keeping Russia, China out
- Donald Trump has repeatedly said he wanted to acquire Greenland, citing national security
- US President’s ambitions have put strain on the NATO alliance
DAVOS, Switzerland: NATO Secretary Mark Rutte said on Thursday that he and US President Trump had discussed in Davos how the transatlantic alliance should best defend the Arctic against Russia and China.
Trump has repeatedly said he wanted to acquire Greenland, citing national security, though on Wednesday he ruled out using force and suggested a deal was in sight to end the dispute over the Danish overseas territory following talks with Rutte.
Trump’s ambitions have put strain on the NATO alliance.
Rutte said he had a “very good discussion” with Trump on how NATO allies can work collectively to ensure Arctic security, including not just Greenland but the seven NATO nations with land in the Arctic.
Further talks would build on the Washington meeting last week between the United States and delegations from Denmark and Greenland. “One workstream coming out of yesterday ... is to make sure when it comes to Greenland, particularly, that we ensure that the Chinese and the Russians will not gain access to the Greenland economy (or) militarily to Greenland,” Rutte told a panel at the World Economic Forum.
