ADDS REMARKS BY FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN ON ISRAEL-PALESTINE, RUSSIA; CHANGES HEAD, DECK
By Esra Taskin and Umit Donmez
PARIS (AA) - France expressed concern Friday about recent "violent incidents" at the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem.
"We expressed concern about the violent incidents in Al-Aqsa Mosque," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Francois Delmas when asked by Anadolu to comment on Israeli police's violent treatment of Palestinian worshippers at the mosque.
He said France urges all parties to show maximum restraint and avoid any action that may escalate the situation.
Delmas called on Israelis and Palestinians to comply with commitments made in meetings in Jordan's Aqaba and Egypt's Sharm El-Skeikh.
Early Friday, the Israeli army launched a series of airstrikes on targets in Gaza and Lebanon, saying they were targets of the Hamas group.
Palestinian groups in Gaza also fired a barrage of rockets on Israeli settlements near the Gaza Strip.
Tension has been running high over the past few days following Israel’s assaults on worshippers in the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Responding to another question from Anadolu, Delmas said recent remarks on France by Moscow were "out of the subject."
He was referring to accusations of "blackmail" by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Wednesday, aimed at French President Emmanuel Macron, who said that anyone helping Moscow in the Ukraine war would become an "accomplice."
Zakharova noted that as the head of state, Macron knew how much effort Russia is putting into solving the Ukraine crisis by implementing the 2014 Minsk agreement, which Paris mediated.
As president of a NATO member country, Macron also knows how much the alliance did to destabilize the situation there, she said.
"If he knows all that and still says such things, then it's just a substitution of concepts, hypocrisy, and the spread of untruth," she said.
Delmas said Russia is the aggressor against Ukraine in the war and Kyiv was defending "its sovereignty and its territorial integrity."
He added that during the latest telephone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart, Macron reiterated France's support for Kyiv "to put an end to the Russian aggression."
* Writing by Nur Erturk and Ahmet Gencturk