The French Foreign Minister, Catherine Colonna, arrived in Israel on Sunday, where she is set to call for an "immediate and lasting" ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Catherine Colonna © Mena Today
The French Foreign Minister, Catherine Colonna, arrived in Israel on Sunday, where she is set to call for an "immediate and lasting" ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Ms. Colonna is scheduled to meet her Israeli counterpart, Eli Cohen, in Tel Aviv.
In addition to official meetings, Ms. Colonna is expected to meet with families of French hostages and call for "a new immediate and lasting humanitarian ceasefire," ultimately leading to a permanent ceasefire, to secure the release of all hostages and provide humanitarian aid to the Gaza population, according to a statement from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The minister will then visit the West Bank for talks with her Palestinian Authority counterpart, Riyad al-Maliki.
The minister will be received by military personnel identifying bodies and forensic doctors responsible for collecting evidence of violence or sexual abuse that may have been committed by Hamas attackers.
She will also meet with representatives of associations defending female victims who collect evidence and seek recognition of these acts of violence.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday he had instructed the military to intensify pressure on Hamas after the Palestinian terrorist group this week rejected an Israeli proposal for another temporary truce, instead demanding a deal to end the war in exchange for the release of hostages.
The past few days have unfolded like a geopolitical drama of historic proportions in Lebanon, where Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shia militia long considered untouchable, appears to be teetering on the edge of a seismic shift.
Israel has not ruled out an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities in the coming months despite President Donald Trump telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. was for now unwilling to support such a move, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
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