France to speed up humanitarian aid to Gaza: Macron

ANKARA

French President Emmanuel Macron said his country will step up humanitarian operations for Gaza following the Sharm el-Sheikh Peace Summit held in Egypt.

Speaking to the press at the airport after the summit Monday, Macron said he was pleased to see the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas being upheld and the release of the 20 living Israeli hostages by the Palestinian group.

He said all of the hostages had been released and that aid operations in Gaza had begun with "greater intensity than planned," adding that humanitarian efforts would be accelerated beginning Tuesday.

Macron noted that France would cooperate with the US and Israel to ensure the uninterrupted and unhindered delivery of aid to the enclave.

Announcing that a humanitarian aid conference for Gaza will be held in the coming weeks as part of the ceasefire’s first phase, he said that "in the second phase, funds will be mobilized to rapidly restart the stabilization and reconstruction of Gaza."

Highlighting ongoing uncertainties regarding Gaza's administration, Macron said the UN Security Council had reached a consensus between the Palestinian Authority and other states to move toward a resolution and that technical work on Hamas's disarmament would begin soon.

US President Donald Trump announced last week that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of a plan he laid out on Sept. 29 to bring a ceasefire to Gaza, release all Israeli captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the entire Gaza Strip. The first phase of the deal came into force Friday.

Phase two calls for the establishment of a new governing mechanism in Gaza, the formation of a multinational force and the disarmament of Hamas.

Earlier Monday, the release of Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails began after Hamas freed all 20 living Israeli captives held in the Gaza Strip.

Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed over 67,800 Palestinians in the enclave, most of them women and children, and rendered it largely uninhabitable.