French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday that Hamas should play no part in governing Gaza while publicly backing the Egyptian-led Gaza reconstruction plan during a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.

The two spoke at a press conference ahead of a planned summit with Jordan’s King Abdullah II later that day, in light of Israel’s renewed offensive against Hamas in Gaza.

Macron threw his support behind the Gaza reconstruction plan unveiled by the Arab League in March, saluting Egypt’s “crucial work” and saying it “offers a realistic path to the reconstruction of Gaza.”

He added that the proposal should also “pave the way for new Palestinian governance in the enclave led by the Palestinian Authority” and stressed that Hamas “must have no role in this governance, and must no longer constitute a threat to Israel.”

Egypt, along with Qatar and the United States, has been a mediator between Israel and Hamas. The US has, meanwhile, called on Jordan and Egypt to accept Palestinian refugees from Gaza.

Israel has pushed to seize Gaza territory since the March 18 collapse of a short-lived truce with Hamas, in what the government has said is a strategy meant to force the terror group to free the hostages it still holds.

Macron also remarked during the Cairo press conference that he strongly opposed any displacement of Palestinians or Israeli annexation in Gaza and the West Bank.

“We are firmly opposed to the displacement of populations and to any annexation of both Gaza and the West Bank,” he said, adding that such outcomes would be “a violation of international law and a serious threat to the security of the entire region, including Israel.”

US President Donald Trump floated a proposal in January to move Gazans out of the enclave, suggesting that Egypt or Jordan could take them in. Both countries, along with other Arab allies, governments around the world and the Palestinians themselves, flatly rejected the notion.

Trump later appeared to backtrack on the proposal, saying he was “not forcing” his widely condemned plan; however, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu embraced the notion, calling it “revolutionary” and “creative.”

El-Sissi and Macron also signed strategic partnership agreements in transportation, health and education on Monday in Cairo, Egyptian state TV reported, as the Egyptian president confessed that “tension in the Red Sea” caused by Houthi attacks “has negatively impacted” the country’s revenues from the Suez Canal.

Houthi rebel attacks on ships have led to a decline in maritime traffic through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, which in turn caused a drop in Egypt’s income, as the country charges fees for passage through the canal.

Egypt lost $7 billion as a result of the decline, the president said.

On Tuesday, the French leader will head to the Egyptian port of el-Arish, near Gaza, to meet with humanitarian and security workers involved in transporting aid to the Strip.

His office said he plans to meet with the workers to demonstrate his “constant mobilization in favor of a ceasefire.”

Most international aid formerly went through the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, but this has been suspended by Israel since early March.