By Aysar Alais
ISTANBUL (AA) – Palestine on Sunday hailed a call by French President Emmanuel Macron to halt arms exports to Israel amid its onslaught on the Gaza Strip.
“Macron’s call aligns with international law and international legitimacy resolutions and supports the two-state solution and the principles of human rights,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
In an interview with France Inter radio on Saturday, Macron emphasized the need to focus on political solutions to end the Gaza conflict.
“I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop delivering weapons [to Israel] to fight in Gaza,” he said.
The French president clarified that Paris has not supplied arms to Israel amid its current war on the Palestinian enclave.
The Palestinian ministry called on all countries that “still provide to Israel in its war to respect and implement international law, and pressure Israel to end the war of genocide against our people in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and Lebanon."
It urged the signatories of the Arms Trade Treaty to “take decisive action to prevent Israel from using weapons and military equipment against civilians by immediately imposing a comprehensive solution and an arms embargo on Israel.”
Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last Oct. 7, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.
Nearly 41,900 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 97,100 others injured, according to local health authorities.
The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.
* Writing by Ikram Kouachi