The French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, at a NATO conference in Brussels on October 18, 2024. (Credit: Olivier Matthys/AFP)
“The war in Gaza must stop,” declared the French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sebastien Lecornu, on Sunday in an interview with the French media outlet La Tribune.
When asked about his reaction to the killing of Yahya Sinwar, the former Hamas leader, during an Israeli military operation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, the French minister stated that this event should mark a “turning point” in Israel's conduct of the war in the Palestinian enclave.
“His death (that of Yahya Sinwar) must mean the end of the war in Gaza; it has lasted too long considering the number of civilian casualties. This does not mean that all security issues for Israel are resolved, but it is clear that the Israeli government must find a way to re-engage with the Palestinian authorities and regional Arab partners,” he said, urging the Israeli government to seize this “immediate perspective for the release of hostages” and to allow aid to re-enter Gaza, “because the humanitarian and health situation there is currently very critical,” he added.
In another interview on RTL radio, Sebastien Lecornu also expressed concerns about an even more pronounced regionalization of the conflict. “Time is of the essence because something even more serious could arise in the coming weeks and days, notably a more direct regional war between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Israel,” he continued, as Israelis have threatened to retaliate for a missile attack launched by Iran on October 1.
Despite the “political and diplomatic disagreements regarding the way Israel conducts its wars,” the French minister reaffirmed that Israel “is our ally.”
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