France’s Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said on Friday that Paris would back the United Nations’ call for an independent investigation into this week’s Israeli shooting of Palestinians waiting for aid.
Speaking on France Inter radio, Sejourne said, “The humanitarian situation has been catastrophic for several weeks now and what happened is indefensible and unjustifiable. Israel needs to be able to hear it and it needs to stop.”
He added, “We have gone a step further, people are fighting for food and there are riots. I heard the request from the Secretary General of the United Nations to open an independent investigation and I think that France will support this.”
On Thursday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the killing of over 100 people seeking humanitarian aid in Gaza was a situation that would require an effective independent investigation.
Speaking in St. Vincent and the Grenadines ahead of a regional summit, Guterres said he was “shocked” by the latest episode in the Israeli invasion of Palestine.
Palestinian authorities say over 30,000 civilians have been killed since October 7. More than 70,000 others are wounded while scores stuck under rubble with fate of most of them unknown.
Responding to questions on the failure of a recent Security Council resolution seeking a ceasefire, Guterres said worsening geopolitical divides have “transformed the veto power into an effective instrument of paralysis of the action of the Security Council.”
“I am totally convinced that we need a humanitarian ceasefire and we need the unconditional and immediate release of hostages and that we should have a Security Council able to achieve these objectives,” Guterres said.
Also, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday he was angered by the shooting of more than 100 Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid in Gaza and demanded “truth and justice” regarding the role of Israeli soldiers in the incident.
“Deep indignation at the images coming from Gaza where civilians have been targeted by Israeli soldiers. I express my strongest condemnation of these shootings and call for truth, justice, and respect for international law,” Macron said in a post on X.
