Foreign Minister Stéphane Segournet will begin a tour of the Middle East on Saturday, the French foreign ministry announced, which will last until Tuesday and focus on post-war political prospects in Gaza.
The new minister's first tour of the region will include visits to Egypt, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Lebanon.
During his tour, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine said Ségournet was trying to “reach a ceasefire and release the hostages” and persuade the conflicting parties to “reopen the political horizon”. State settlement.
Le Moyne, according to “Agence France-Presse”, stressed the “resoluteness” of the French position regarding the “existing conditions” in the post-war phase in Gaza.
“Gaza's future comes within the framework of a unified Palestinian state in which a revitalized Palestinian Authority must play its role,” he said, adding, “France has rejected and has always rejected establishing settlements in Gaza or the forced relocation of the Palestinian people.”
Right-wing ministers in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government are pushing for a mass exodus of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and the return of Israeli settlers.
During his tour, the French foreign minister will also discuss the dangers of an explosion in the region and “convey various messages about the need for control”, especially in Lebanon where there are prospects of a new war between Israel and Hezbollah. A major concern among the international community.
The minister's visit comes amid intense negotiations between the Americans, Egyptians, Israelis and Qataris to reach a new ceasefire, after a temporary truce they reached at the end of November that lasted a week. Hostages from the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.
Israeli authorities have announced that around 250 people were abducted and transferred to the Gaza Strip during the Hamas attack on Israel. 132 of them are still being held hostage, and the Israeli army has reported that 27 of them have been killed. It is noteworthy that three French nationals are among the hostages in Gaza.
The fighting in the Gaza Strip followed an unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, according to an account by Agence France-Presse, based on the latest Israeli official figures.
In response to the attack, Israel vowed to eradicate the movement and then launched a devastating bombing campaign followed by ground operations from October 27, killing more than 27,000 people, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. .
