French defence minister hopes medical aid will reach Gaza hostages soon
French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu says he hopes medicines delivered to Gaza would reach "every hostage", nearly a week after the aid shipment arrived in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory. Meanwhile, diplomatic pressure is mounting on Israel to find a solution to recurrent demands for Palestinian statehood.
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"We trust all parties to ensure that these medicines arrive safely... at the destination of every hostage," Lecornu told French news agency AFP on his visit to Israel on Monday, the second since the Israel - Hamas conflict broke out.
"It's our duty to do it," Lecornu said after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Medicines for hostages and humanitarian aid for civilians entered Gaza on Wednesday, under a deal mediated by Qatar and France.
Forty-five hostages are expected to receive medication according to the agreement between Israel and Hamas, Lecornu said.
France said last week the drugs would be sent to a hospital in Rafah where they would be handed over to the Red Cross and divided into batches before being transferred to the hostages.
Qatar indicated last Wednesday that the medicines had "entered the Gaza Strip, in accordance with the agreement". But no confirmation has since been provided on the delivery.
Fate of hostages unknown
Some 250 people were taken to Gaza by Palestinian militants during the unprecedented 7 October attack by Hamas on southern Israeli communities.
Around a hundred were released during a truce at the end of November.
Israeli officials say 132 people are still being held captive in the territory, including 28 who are believed to have been killed, according to an AFP tally.
The 7 October attack resulted in the death of around 1,140 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on the latest official Israeli figures.
In response, Israel has carried out a relentless air, land and sea offensive that has killed at least 25,295 people in Gaza, around 70 percent of them women, children and adolescents, according to the latest toll issued Monday by Gaza's health ministry.
Two-state solution
Fresh strikes rained down on southern Gaza on Monday as European foreign ministers held meetings in Brussels with top diplomats from the warring sides and key Arab states.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told Israel "peace and stability cannot be built only by military means".
"Which are the other solutions they have in mind? To make all the Palestinians leave? To kill them off?"
Alleviating the humanitarian crisis must be the priority as more hardship for Gazans will not defeat Hamas or increase Israel's security, Borrell added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has drawn condemnation from the United Nations and defied the United States – which provides Israel with billions of dollars in military aid – by rejecting calls for a Palestinian state.
The Palestinian Authority's top diplomat, Riyad al-Maliki, demanded the European Union call for an immediate ceasefire and urged it to consider sanctions against Netanyahu for "destroying the chances for a two-state solution".
Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said "the whole world" sees a two-state solution as "the only way out of this misery".
Israel's top diplomat Israel Katz ignored questions from journalists over a future two-state solution and said his government was focused on returning the hostages and ensuring its own security.
No one wants war
The war has spurred fears of a wider escalation, with a surge in violence involving Iran-backed Hamas allies across the region, particularly in Lebanon.
Sebastien Lecornu reiterated France's desire to press for diplomacy and support for reinstating the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.
Resolution 1701 ended the 2006 war between Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah, an ally of Iran, and Israel. It dedicated the sole presence of the Lebanese army and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the south of the country, between the border and the Litani River.
"When we probe minds, when we probe hearts, no one, neither in Tel Aviv, nor in Jerusalem, nor in Beirut, wants war. (...) The real issue for us is to make so that this escalation, which may seem inevitable, does not happen," Lecornu told AFP.
(with AFP)
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