The 88 members of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF), including France and Canada, call for an "immediate and lasting" ceasefire in Lebanon, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday, October 5.
"We have unanimously expressed ourselves in favor of an immediate and lasting ceasefire and have stated our commitment to de-escalating tensions in the region," Macron told reporters at the end of a "Francophonie" summit, adding France would hold an international conference in support of Lebanon in October.
While both Paris and Washington have called for a ceasefire, "I regret that Prime Minister Netanyahu has made another choice, has taken this responsibility, in particular, for ground operations on Lebanese soil," said Macron.
The French president also reaffirmed Israel's right to self-defense and said that on Monday he would be meeting relatives of Franco-Israelis held hostage in Gaza.
On Monday, Israel marks the first anniversary of the devastating October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the Gaza war and has now engulfed neighboring Lebanon, creating a perilous regional crisis. The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.
Israel's retaliatory offensive on Gaza has so far killed at least 41,825 people, a majority of them civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory. The UN has said those figures are reliable.