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With Israel visit, Macron seeks to balance solidarity with Israel and calls for peace
(JTA) — French President Emmauel Macron visited Jerusalem on Tuesday, attempting to balance his solidarity with Israel alongside his calls for humanitarian aid in Gaza and a political peace process with the Palestinians.
Thirty French citizens were killed in the Hamas incursion into Israel on Oct. 7, which left over 1,400 people in Israel dead and over 200 taken hostage. Nine French nationals are still missing and believed to be held captive. About 50 other French citizens are stuck in the besieged Gaza Strip, which has been pounded with Israeli airstrikes.
After a closed-door meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Macron said in a press conference that their countries shared the common enemy of terrorism. He added that Hamas’ onslaught dealt France its worst death toll from a terror attack since 2016, when 86 people were killed during a Bastille Day celebration in Nice.
Macron also met with about 30 family members of French and French-Israeli victims of Hamas in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.
But he additionally urged Israel to adhere to the laws of war and protect civilians in Gaza, who are living in a dire humanitarian crisis with dwindling access to water, food and electricity. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, which is controlled by Hamas, the war has killed more than 6,000 Palestinians trapped in the coastal enclave.
“The fight must be merciless, but not lawless, because we are democracies and we are fighting against terrorists,” said Macron. “Democracies respect the rules of war and ensure humanitarian access. Democracies do not target civilians, neither in Gaza nor elsewhere.”
The French president has emerged as one of the most prominent Western voices pushing Netanyahu to allow humanitarian aid in Gaza. He urged Israel to reestablish electricity for hospitals, while ensuring the electricity is not misappropriated by Hamas, which has diverted millions of aid funds in the past.
Macron also warned Israel’s neighbors to avoid escalating the war into a broader regional conflict. He suggested that the international coalition set up to fight the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq could be widened to fight Hamas.
He closed his remarks by insisting on a peaceful, political resolution to Israel’s decades-long conflict with the Palestinians.
“Regional stability and return to normalization can only take place if Israel defends its security, fights against violence but also accepts the legitimate right of Palestinians to have a state, to live in peace and in security side by side with Israel,” he said.
Macron also became one of few Western leaders who has met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah since the start of the fighting, despite a ban by Israel that deemed “security conditions” in the West Bank insufficient. Only Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has also visited Ramallah. On Wednesday, Macron went on to meet King Abdullah II of Jordan and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt.
Meanwhile in Paris, the World Jewish Congress convened a meeting on Tuesday to address a global surge in antisemitic hate speech online. Representatives from across the world reported that Hamas has used internet and social media platforms to fuel a spike in hate speech and disinformation since the Oct. 7 attacks, an effort that the platforms’ content moderation and monitoring strategies have failed to prevent.
According to a report published alongside the forum, Hamas has also amassed support among far-right and racist ideologies, pointing to a shift in extremist circles around the globe.
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The post With Israel visit, Macron seeks to balance solidarity with Israel and calls for peace appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.