Macron urges immediate resumption of aid to Gaza

French President Emmanuel Macron during a visit to Egypt on Tuesday urged the immediate resumption of aid to Gaza and condemned an Israeli attack on aid workers.

“The situation today is intolerable,” Macron said in the city of El-Arish near the border with Gaza, calling for “the resumption of humanitarian aid as quickly as possible” to the territory.

He also “strongly condemned” an Israeli attack on paramedics and aid workers last month.

Alongside his host Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, Macron toured a hospital in the port city, 50 km west of the Gaza Strip, and met with medical professionals and sick and wounded Palestinians evacuated from Gaza.

Carrying a bouquet of red roses to give to patients, the French president visited several wards as well as a play area for children.

His office said the trip was aimed at piling pressure on Israel for “the reopening of crossing points for the delivery of humanitarian goods into Gaza.”

Israel cut off aid to Gaza in early March, during an impasse over next steps in a ceasefire with Hamas.

Later in March, Israel resumed intense bombardment across the territory and restarted ground operations.

Emergency department doctor Mahmud Mohammad Elshaer said the hospital had treated around 1,200 Palestinian patients since the Gaza war began in October 2023.

“Some days we can receive 100 patients, others 50,” Elshaer said, adding that many had sustained limb amputations or eye or brain injuries.

In Cairo, Macron, Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II called for an “immediate return” to the ceasefire.

The three leaders met on Monday to discuss the war and humanitarian efforts to alleviate the suffering of Gaza’s 2.4 million people, the vast majority of whom have been displaced at least once during the war.

In a joint statement on Monday, the heads of several UN agencies said many Gazans are “trapped, bombed and starved again, while, at crossing points, food, medicine, fuel and shelter supplies are piling up, and vital equipment is stuck” outside of the blockaded territory.

Meanwhile, Israel’s Supreme Court began a hearing on Tuesday into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bid to sack the head of the domestic intelligence service amid an uproar from shouting protesters that forced the judges to clear the court.

Netanyahu’s move to sack Shin Bet head Ronen Bar last month was blocked by the Supreme Court after it agreed to consider petitions against the decision, which has highlighted political divisions that have deepened since the start of the Gaza war.

On Tuesday, as the hearing began, one protestor, whose son was killed in Gaza in December 2023, was dragged out of the hearing as he shouted at the judges, accusing Bar of being responsible for his son’s death.

The judges later called a recess and cleared the audience from the court completely, but a number of anti-Bar protesters, including a lawmaker from Netanyahu’s Likud party, remained outside shouting “For shame!”

Netanyahu said last month that he had lost confidence in Bar over the agency’s failure to prevent the Oct.7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

The timing of the move fuelled mass demonstrations, with critics saying the real reason for Bar’s dismissal was a recently announced police and Shin Bet investigation into possible ties between Netanyahu aides and Qatar.

Watchdogs and opposition lawmakers petitioned the Supreme Court against the dismissal, arguing it was rushed, tainted by conflict of interest and unlawful.

Since returning to office at the head of one of the most right-wing governments in Israel’s history, Netanyahu has been at odds with much of the defence establishment and justice system, first over his 2023 plans to curb the powers of the Supreme Court, and later over the conduct of the Gaza war.

Like the military, Shin Bet has investigated its October 7 failures.

Bar accepted responsibility and said he would step down before the end of his term.

Agencies