By Burak Bir
LONDON (AA) - The French foreign minister said Friday that “it’s not up to Israel to determine the future of Gaza, which is Palestinian land."
Catherine Colonna made the comments to CNN and rejected the suggestion from Israeli ministers that the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza is a possibility.
Those calls are "irresponsible" and "brings us away from a solution," said Colonna as she noted the suggestions are also against the long-term interests of Israel.
"We need to return to the principle of international law and respect it," said Colonna.
She noted France’s support for a two-state solution which is "the only viable option," and underlined that "Gaza and the West Bank must together be part of the future Palestinian state."
She said civilians are not responsible for the crimes and must be protected, reiterating the obligation to follow international law and protect the civilian population.
Colonna said France is committed to avoiding a further escalation of the situation by all sides, including in neighboring areas such as Lebanon and the Red Sea.
Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, on Oct. 7.
At least 22,600 Palestinians have since been killed and 57,910 injured, according to Gaza’s health authorities. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.
The onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave's infrastructure damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.