“The resumption of Israeli strikes…despite the efforts of mediators, represents a dramatic step backwards,” Macron said ahead of talks in Paris with Abdullah.
“It’s dramatic for the Palestinians of Gaza, who are again plunged into the terror of bombardment, and dramatic for the [Israeli] hostages and their families who live in the nightmare of uncertainty.”
Israel earlier this week carried out its deadliest bombing of Gaza since a fragile ceasefire began in January between Israel and the Palestinian territory’s Islamist rulers Hamas.
The renewed Israeli air strikes in the night of Monday to Tuesday killed more than 400 people, according to the Gaza health ministry. They have continued since.
Macron slammed Hamas, saying the “axis of resistance is today an illusion”, but also warned Israel that there could be “no Israeli military solution in Gaza”.
The Jordanian king called the strikes “an extremely dangerous step that adds further devastation to an already dire humanitarian situation”.
“The ceasefire must be restored and the flow of aid must resume immediately,” Abdullah said.
If the war stops, France has thrown its support behind a plan put forward by Arab nations, including Jordan, to rebuild Gaza without evicting its 2.4 million Palestinian residents.
“We French and Europeans are ready to contribute to these deliberations and to this plan,” Macron said.
Macron said he and other European leaders would discuss it on Thursday at the European Council, “among ourselves and with the Secretary General of the United Nations”.
France, Britain, Germany and Italy earlier this month backed the plan, hailing it as a “realistic path” for Gaza to return to the control of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority after nearly two decades of Hamas rule.
Israel and the United States have rejected the proposal. (AFP)
