French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna arrived in Israel on Sunday, December 17, where she called for an "immediate and durable" truce in the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Colonna met her Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen in Tel Aviv, as Israel presses on with its military offensive after the October 7 attacks that has left much of Gaza in ruins and sent tensions spiraling across the region.
France calls for an "immediate and durable" truce in the Gaza war, Colonna said Sunday, stressing Paris is "deeply concerned" over the situation in the Palestinian territory. "Too many civilians are being killed," the top diplomat said at a joint media briefing with Cohen, while stressing that the victims of Hamas's October 7 attack should not be forgotten.
A French foreign ministry statement released before her visit also said that the "immediate and durable new humanitarian truce" should lead to a lasting ceasefire with the aim of releasing all hostages and delivering aid to Gaza.
Israeli Foreign Minister Cohen, meanwhile, stated that France could play a key role in preventing a war in Lebanon as cross-border skirmishes continue to raise tensions. "France could play a positive and significant role to prevent a war in Lebanon," Cohen said.
Paris on Saturday condemned an Israeli strike in Gaza that killed a French foreign ministry employee, demanding that "light be shed" on the circumstances.
Colonna is also due to meet the families of French hostages still held in Gaza, according to a foreign ministry statement.
Israel has come under increasing international pressure for a ceasefire in Gaza, where its offensive against Hamas militants has killed at least 18,800 people, mostly women and children, according to the territory's Hamas government.
The offensive comes in response to Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attacks in southern Israel in which about 1,140 people were killed, mostly civilians, and about 250 taken hostage, according to latest Israeli figures.
The French top diplomat will also meet her Palestinian counterpart Riyad al-Maliki in the occupied West Bank.
Shortly before her arrival in Israel, Colonna condemned increasing attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank. "Since October 7, unfortunately, some settlers, driven by their ideological blindness [...] have committed crimes" against Palestinians, she said, adding that "these settlers must be punished." More than 280 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since the war in Gaza erupted on October 7, health officials say.