Israel accuses France’s Macron of ‘crusade against the Jewish state’
Israel has accused French president Emmanuel Macron of undertaking a “crusade against the Jewish state” after he called for European countries to harden their stance on Israel if the humanitarian situation in Gaza did not improve.
“There is no humanitarian blockade. That is a blatant lie,” Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement, defending its efforts to allow in aid. “But instead of applying pressure on the jihadist terrorists, Macron wants to reward them with a Palestinian state. No doubt its national day will be October 7.”
Speaking during a state visit to Singapore, Macron also asserted recognition of a Palestinian state with conditions was “not only a moral duty, but a political necessity”.
A “hardened stance” would mean dropping an assumption that human rights were being respected “and apply sanctions”, the French leader said.
Key events
Closing summary
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Hamas said it had received the Israeli response to a US ceasefire proposal, which it said “fails to meet any of the just and legitimate demands of our people”, including an immediate cessation of hostilities and an end to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Hamas official Basem Naim said the Israeli response “fundamentally seeks to entrench the occupation and perpetuate policies of killing and starvation, even during what is supposed to be a period of temporary de-escalation”. However, he said Hamas’ leadership was carrying out a “thorough and responsible review of the new proposal”.
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Israel has accused French president Emmanuel Macron of undertaking a “crusade against the Jewish state” after he called for European countries to harden their stance on Israel if the humanitarian situation in Gaza did not improve. “There is no humanitarian blockade. That is a blatant lie,” Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement, defending its efforts to allow in aid. “But instead of applying pressure on the jihadist terrorists, Macron wants to reward them with a Palestinian state. No doubt its national day will be October 7.”
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Israeli airstrikes killed at least 14 people in the Gaza Strip, AP reports, citing hospital officials. Officials at Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza said the bodies of 12 people, including three women, were brought from the nearby Jabalia refugee camp. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said the bodies of two people as well as nine others who were wounded were taken to Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City.
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Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz vowed to build a “Jewish Israeli state” in the illegally occupied West Bank, a day after Israel announced the creation of 22 new illegal settlements in the territory. “This is a decisive response to the terrorist organisations that are trying to harm and weaken our hold on this land – and it is also a clear message to Macron and his associates: they will recognise a Palestinian state on paper – but we will build the Jewish Israeli state here on the ground.”
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Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir said it was time to use “full force” in Gaza, after Hamas said a new US-backed truce proposal failed to meet its demands. Ben Gvir said on his Telegram channel: “The confusion, the shuffling and the weakness must end. We have already missed too many opportunities. It is time to go in with full force, without blinking, to destroy, and kill Hamas to the last one.”
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The UN’s Palestinian aid agency, UNRWA said that it has enough supplies to help 200,000 people for a month sitting across the border in Jordan, a three-hour drive from Gaza. “Flour, food parcels, hygiene kits, blankets and medical supplies are ready to be delivered. Gaza needs aid at scale – an unhindered, uninterrupted flow of supplies must be allowed in.”
Lorenzo Tondo
At about 3pm last Friday, Dr Alaa al-Najjar, a paediatrician at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, received the charred remains of seven of her 10 children, killed in an Israeli airstrike. The bodies of two others were buried beneath the rubble.
A few miles away, 11-year-old Yaqeen Hammad, known as Gaza’s youngest social media influencer, was killed after a series of heavy Israeli airstrikes hit the house where she lived with her family. She was watering flowers in a tiny patch of greenery eked out of a displacement camp when she died. Her cousin, 16-year-old Eyad, was gravely wounded.
Even by the terrible standards of the Gaza conflict, the deaths had the power to shock. But they were also a reflection of a daily reality in the territory: the killing and maiming of its very youngest citizens and the destruction of a young generation.
According to local health officials, whose estimates have generally been found to be accurate by the global humanitarian community, more than 16,500 children have been killed in the 19 months since the war began – a figure almost 24 times higher than the number of children killed in Ukraine, where the population is 20 times bigger, since Russia’s invasion. The World Health Organization tally for child deaths stands at 15,613.
Palestinians gathering to receive food from a charity kitchen in a refugee camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Friday.
Afternoon summary
It’s almost 6pm in Gaza City, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Here’s a summary of what’s happened so far in the region today:
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Hamas said it had received the Israeli response to a US ceasefire proposal, which it said “fails to meet any of the just and legitimate demands of our people”, including an immediate cessation of hostilities and an end to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Hamas official Basem Naim said the Israeli response “fundamentally seeks to entrench the occupation and perpetuate policies of killing and starvation, even during what is supposed to be a period of temporary de-escalation”. However, he said Hamas’ leadership was carrying out a “thorough and responsible review of the new proposal”.
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Israel has accused French president Emmanuel Macron of undertaking a “crusade against the Jewish state” after he called for European countries to harden their stance on Israel if the humanitarian situation in Gaza did not improve. “There is no humanitarian blockade. That is a blatant lie,” Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement, defending its efforts to allow in aid. “But instead of applying pressure on the jihadist terrorists, Macron wants to reward them with a Palestinian state. No doubt its national day will be October 7.”
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Israeli airstrikes killed at least 14 people in the Gaza Strip, AP reports, citing hospital officials. Officials at Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza said the bodies of 12 people, including three women, were brought from the nearby Jabalia refugee camp. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said the bodies of two people as well as nine others who were wounded were taken to Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City.
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Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz vowed to build a “Jewish Israeli state” in the illegally occupied West Bank, a day after Israel announced the creation of 22 new illegal settlements in the territory. “This is a decisive response to the terrorist organisations that are trying to harm and weaken our hold on this land – and it is also a clear message to Macron and his associates: they will recognise a Palestinian state on paper – but we will build the Jewish Israeli state here on the ground.”
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Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir said it was time to use “full force” in Gaza, after Hamas said a new US-backed truce proposal failed to meet its demands. Ben Gvir said on his Telegram channel: “The confusion, the shuffling and the weakness must end. We have already missed too many opportunities. It is time to go in with full force, without blinking, to destroy, and kill Hamas to the last one.”
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The UN’s Palestinian aid agency, UNRWA said that it has enough supplies to help 200,000 people for a month sitting across the border in Jordan, a three-hour drive from Gaza. “Flour, food parcels, hygiene kits, blankets and medical supplies are ready to be delivered. Gaza needs aid at scale – an unhindered, uninterrupted flow of supplies must be allowed in.”
Gazans have told AP of their struggles to source food in the embattled territory.
Mohammed Abed said he and his family suffer greatly trying to find food and eat only one meal a day because of shortages. He said he waits for three hours daily to get a small amount of rice.
Charities and aid groups have criticised a new US-backed aid effort, the Gaza Humanitarian Doundation, that began distributing aid this week. Israel and the US hoped it would distribute aid, bypassing Hamas, but there have been reports of chaos at distribution points and of Israeli troops firing into crowds.
“It’s heartbreaking that people are being starved because of politics. Food and water should not be used for political purposes,” Abed told AP in the central city of Deir al-Balah.
Fuad Muheisen from Deir a-Balah said if charity kitchens shut down “all of Gaza will die. No one will stay alive.” Another resident, Mnawar al-Rai said she has been displaced five times with her family and now is settled in Deir al-Balah where they tried to collect aid in recent days but came under fire. She said they have to walk to three or four locations every day to collect food, adding that almost nothing is available in markets because “merchants are exploiting people.”
On the prospect of a new ceasefire deal – proposed by the US and backed by Israel – Abed said people in Gaza grow optimistic when they hear that a ceasefire is near, only to be disappointed when a deal is not reached. “This war has no meaning. This is the war of starvation, death, siege and long lines for food and toilets,” he said. “This war is the 2025 nightmare, 2024 nightmare and 2023 nightmare.”
Germany will decide whether or not to approve new weapons shipments to Israel based on an assessment of the humanitarian situation in Gaza, foreign minister Johann Wadephul said in an interview with the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.
Wadephul questioned whether what is happening in Gaza is in line with international law.
“We are examining this and, if necessary, we will authorise further arms deliveries based on this examination,” he added. He said that Israel must be able to defend itself, including with German weapons systems.
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has called the new US-Israel operation to distribute aid in Gaza “ineffective”.
The statement published to its website and attributed to Christopher Lockyear, MSF’s secretary general, said:
The disastrous start of the food distribution coordinated by the newly created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation confirmed that the US-Israel plan to instrumentalise aid is ineffective.
On 27 May, the first afternoon of distribution in Rafah, south Gaza, dozens of people were shot and injured as wholly insufficient amounts of basic life-saving supplies were distributed amid chaos.
Palestinians – deprived of food, water and medical aid for nearly three months – were penned in by fences as they waited to receive basic necessities for survival. This is a stark reminder of the dehumanising treatment imposed by Israeli authorities for more than 19 months.
Through this dangerous and reckless approach, food is not being distributed where it’s needed most but is instead directed only to areas where Israeli forces choose to amass civilians. This means the most vulnerable – especially the elderly and people with disabilities – have virtually no chance of accessing the food they desperately need.
The claim that this unprincipled, failing mechanism is necessary to prevent the diversion of aid is false. Since the start of the war, MSF has directly treated patients when we have been able to bring supplies into Gaza.
This initiative seems to be a cynical ploy to feign compliance with International Humanitarian Law. In practice, it uses aid as a tool to forcibly displace people as part of what appears to be a broader strategy to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip. It is also used to justify the continuation of a war waged without limits.
Continuing to speak about the Middle East during his state visit to Singapore, French president Emmanuel Macron said that abandoning war-torn Gaza to its fate and giving Israel a “free pass” would kill the West’s credibility with the world, AFP reports.
“If we abandon Gaza, if we consider there is a free pass for Israel, even if we do condemn the terrorist attacks, we will kill our credibility,” Macron told a defence forum, adding: “And this is why we do reject double standard.”
The French leader also said Europe and the United States were unable to solve crises around the world, including in Gaza and Ukraine.
Israel foreign ministry accused Macron of a “crusade against the Jewish state” earlier today.
Here’s the full text of that Israel foreign ministry statement, posted on X, accusing France’s president Emmanuel Macron of a “crusade against the Jewish state”.
President Macron’s Crusade Against the Jewish State Continues. The facts do not interest Macron. There is no humanitarian blockade. That is a blatant lie. Israel is currently facilitating the entry of aid to Gaza through two parallel efforts.
In the first effort, nearly 900 aid trucks have already entered Gaza from Israel this week. Hundreds of these trucks are still waiting for the UN to collect and distribute them in Gaza. In the second effort, the Gaza Humanitarian Fund, which began operating this week, has already distributed two million meals and tens of thousands of aid packages.
This direct aid to the population in Gaza — bypassing Hamas — is already changing the situation on the ground and has the potential to seriously harm the terrorists and shorten the war. But instead of applying pressure on the jihadist terrorists, Macron wants to reward them with a Palestinian state.
No doubt its national day will be October 7. And it is against Israel — under attack on multiple fronts in an attempt to destroy it — that Macron seeks to impose sanctions. Hamas, for its part, has already praised Macron’s statements. Hamas knows why.
Israel accuses France’s Macron of ‘crusade against the Jewish state’
Israel has accused French president Emmanuel Macron of undertaking a “crusade against the Jewish state” after he called for European countries to harden their stance on Israel if the humanitarian situation in Gaza did not improve.
“There is no humanitarian blockade. That is a blatant lie,” Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement, defending its efforts to allow in aid. “But instead of applying pressure on the jihadist terrorists, Macron wants to reward them with a Palestinian state. No doubt its national day will be October 7.”
Speaking during a state visit to Singapore, Macron also asserted recognition of a Palestinian state with conditions was “not only a moral duty, but a political necessity”.
A “hardened stance” would mean dropping an assumption that human rights were being respected “and apply sanctions”, the French leader said.
Families of hostages held in Gaza are pleading with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ensure that any agreement to end the war must include the freedom of all the hostages, AP reports.
There are 58 hostages left in Gaza, of whom Israel believes approximately a third are still alive.
Ayelet Samerano, the mother of Yonatan Samerano, whose body is being held in Gaza, was among a group of family members who met with Netanyahu yesterday.
There is not yet confirmation of how many hostages would be handed over if the Israeli-backed US ceasefire plan is pursued. According to a draft leaked to Reuters, an exchange of 28 Israeli hostages – alive and dead – for 125 Palestinian prisoners sentenced to life and the remains of 180 dead Palestinians would take place in the first week.
Ayelet said the families had once again been plunged into indescribable uncertainty. “It’s again a selection, you know, all the families, we are right now standing and thinking, is it going to be my son? Isn’t it? What will be after part of them will come, what will be with the rest?”
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said that it distributed more than two million meals within four days starting its operations, AP reports.
It said on Friday it distributed six truckloads of food at one distribution point.
Hunger and malnutrition have mounted among Gaza’s population of 2.3 million since Israel barred entry of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies nearly three months ago, allowing a trickle of aid in only the past two weeks.
The GHF has faced criticism by aid groups and Palestinians for a chaotic roll out since it began its operations earlier this week. There have been reports of chaotic scenes and Israeli troops opening fire on crowds, including today.
The group said that it was committed to safely and effectively supplying food to a “large, hungry population.” It said it planned to scale and build additional sites including in the north of Gaza in the coming weeks and that it was testing and adapting its distribution model to safely deliver as much aid as possible.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said that at least 22 people had been killed in Israeli attacks today, including seven in a strike targeting a family home in Jabalia in the north, AFP reports.
Palestinians sobbed over the bodies of their loved ones at Gaza City’s Al Shifa Hospital following the strike, AFPTV footage showed.
“These were civilians and were sleeping at their homes. The house was destroyed due to the indiscriminate bombardment,” said neighbour Mahmud al-Ghaf, describing “children in pieces”.
“Stop the war!” said Mahmud Nasr, who lost relatives. “We do not want anything from you, just stop the war.”
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Jabalia strike, but said separately that the air force had “struck dozens of targets throughout the Gaza Strip” over the past day.
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 14 people in the Gaza Strip, AP reports, citing hospital officials.
Officials at Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza said the bodies of 12 people, including three women, were brought from the nearby Jabaliya refugee camp.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said the bodies of two people as well as nine others who were wounded were taken to Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City. It said one of the wounded is a doctor who works at the same hospital.