Sunday, December 17, 2023

French FM urges ‘immediate and durable’ truce, which Cohen casts as ‘gift for Hamas’

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna on Sunday pressed for an “immediate and durable” truce in the Gaza war, adding that Paris is “deeply concerned” over the situation in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

“Too many civilians are being killed,” Colonna said during remarks in Tel Aviv with her Israeli counterpart, Eli Cohen, as Israel presses on with its offensive, launched in response to Hamas’s shock onslaught.

The war began when Hamas terrorists rampaged through southern communities on October 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians massacred amid brutal atrocities, and taking around 240 hostages to Gaza.

Vowing to destroy Hamas and to bring the hostages home, Israel launched an air and ground offensive in Gaza, which has been ruled by the terror group since 2007.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has claimed that, since the start of the war, more than 18,800 people have been killed, mostly civilians. These figures cannot be independently verified and are believed to include some 7,000 Hamas terrorists, according to Israel, as well as civilians killed by misfired Palestinian rockets. Another estimated 1,000 terrorists were killed in Israel during the October 7 onslaught. READ MORE