On the eve of the 100 days of the conflict started on October 7 by the bloody attacks in Israel, Emmanuel Macron wanted to have words for the people in the hands of Hamas. The head of state called for “resuming again and again negotiations for (the) release” of hostages from the Palestinian terrorist movement, in a video broadcast Saturday on social networks and during a rally in Tel Aviv in support to the hostages.
“The French nation is determined that (…) all the hostages from the terrorist attacks of October 7 are released. France does not abandon its children,” the president also said.
We “will accept no sacrifice”
“Never give in, never give up because we do not and will not accept any sacrifice. So we are going to do everything and you can count on me to bring them all home with us,” he continued in this short message.
Around 250 people were kidnapped during the attack. Three French people are still “disappeared”, probably hostages in the Palestinian territory. The Israeli army announced on December 15 the death of Franco-Israeli Elya Toledano, kidnapped from the scene of the Tribe of Nova music festival in which he participated with his friend Mia Shem, a Franco-Israeli who was also taken hostage and then released in the framework of a truce agreement at the end of November. “We mourn the death of Elya killed by his captors in Gaza,” lamented the president.
The video was broadcast Saturday on several giant screens during a rally in Tel Aviv in support of the hostages and their families attended by thousands of people. After the broadcast, the crowd chanted in French “Now! NOW ! NOW ! “.
The Hamas attack in Israel on October 7 left around 1,140 dead, mainly civilians, according to the Jewish state. Israeli military operations since then in the Gaza Strip have killed 23,843 people, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.