French President Emmanuel Macron insisted Thursday that recognizing a Palestinian state would isolate the militant group Hamas and reiterated his condemnation of Israel's devastating offensive in Gaza.
"Recognising a Palestinian state is just deciding to say: 'The legitimate perspective of Palestinian people and what they suffer today has nothing to do with Hamas.'" Macron said in English in an interview with Israeli television's Channel 12.
"Recognition of a Palestinian state is the best way to isolate Hamas."
France and Britain are among several Western countries that have pledged to formally recognize a Palestinian state this month at the United Nations General Assembly.
Their plan aims to sideline Hamas and allow a two-state solution to the decades-long Arab-Israeli conflict – a proposal resisted by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
With Israeli settlers pushing to occupy Palestinian territory in the West Bank, Macron said it was now the "last minute before proposing the two states would become totally impossible."
Israeli tanks and jets pounded Gaza City on Thursday in a major ground offensive, the latest phase in the two-year assault sparked by deadly Hamas attacks in October 2023.
Those attacks resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 65,141 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
"This type of operation in Gaza is totally counterproductive" and "a failure," Macron said.
"You are completely destroying the image and the credibility of Israel, not just in the region, but in public opinion everywhere."
AFP
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