French President Emmanuel Macron said this Saturday (5) that shipments of weapons used in the conflict in Gaza must be stopped as part of a broader effort to find a political solution to the war in the enclave.
France is not a major arms supplier to Israel, sending military equipment worth $33 million last year, according to the Defense Ministry’s annual arms export report.
“I think the priority today is to return to a political solution (and) that the weapons used to fight in Gaza are stopped. France does not send any,” Macron told France Inter radio.
“Our priority now is to prevent escalation. The Lebanese people must not be sacrificed, Lebanon cannot become another Gaza,” he added.
Macron’s comments come as his Foreign Minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, is on a four-day trip to the Middle East, which ends this Monday (7) in Israel, while Paris tries to play a role in resumption of diplomatic efforts.
Understand the escalation in conflicts in the Middle East
Iran’s missile attack on Israel on the 1st marked a new stage in the regional conflict in the Middle East. On one side of the war is Israel, with support from the United States. On the other, the Axis of Resistance, which receives financial and military support from Iran and which has a series of paramilitary groups.
There are seven conflict fronts currently open: the Islamic Republic of Iran; Hamas, in the Gaza Strip; Hezbollah, in Lebanon; the Syrian government and the militias operating in the country; the Houthis, in Yemen; Shia groups in Iraq; and different militant organizations in the West Bank.
Israel has soldiers on three of these fronts: Lebanon, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In the other four, it carries out aerial bombings.
The Israeli Army began a “limited ground operation” in Lebanon on September 30, days after Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a bombing of the group’s headquarters in the Beirut suburb.
The Israel Defense Forces say they have killed virtually the entire Hezbollah chain of command in similar bombings carried out in recent weeks. On September 23, Lebanon had its deadliest day since the 2006 war, with more than 500 fatalities.
At least two Brazilian teenagers died in the attacks. Itamaraty condemned the situation and called for an end to the conflict. With the increase in hostilities, the Brazilian government announced an operation to repatriate Brazilians in Lebanon.
In the West Bank, the Israeli military is trying to dismantle groups opposed to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.
In the Gaza Strip, Israel seeks to eradicate Hamas, responsible for the October 7 attack that left more than 1,200 people dead, according to information from the Israeli government. The Israeli operation killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s Ministry of Health, controlled by Hamas.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar remains hidden in tunnels in the Gaza Strip, where dozens of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas are also believed to be in captivity.
This content was originally published in Macron defends embargo on sales of weapons used in Gaza on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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