Fight against terrorism should not mean ‘razing Gaza to the ground’: Macron

ANKARA (AA) – French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday that the idea of fighting against terrorism should not be about “razing the Gaza Strip to the ground.”

Macron claimed that Paris’ position had been the same since the start of the conflict in the Middle East, despite what critics have said.

“We cannot allow to settle the idea that fighting efficiently against terrorism should be razing Gaza to the ground or attacking civilian populations without distinction and causing civilian casualties,” Macron told French broadcaster France 5.

The president, however, did not back away from the idea that Israel has “the right to defend itself” against Hamas.

“Israelis must end this response because it is not appropriate, and all lives matter,” Macron stressed.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, killing over 20,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 52,586 others, according to health authorities in the enclave.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins with half of the coastal territory’s housing stock damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million people displaced within the densely-populated enclave amid shortages of food and clean water.

Fewer than 1,150 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack, while nearly 130 hostages remain in captivity.

– Macron backs immigration law –

The president also backed the much-disputed immigration law adopted by parliament.

French lawmakers passed the bill on immigration late Tuesday that fractured the political majority.

Macron backed the law and denied claims that it was adopted with support from the far-right National Rally (RN) party.

“This law will allow us to be more efficient against what feeds the RN,” he said, adding that the French were expecting the law, particularly in the most fragile neighborhoods.

“We must fight against the flows, which means clandestine arrival of people that we cannot resend,” Macron explained.

One out of four lawmakers in Macron’s camp did not vote for the bill, according to the daily Le Figaro.

Left-wing lawmakers criticized the government for having the support of the RN to adopt the law.

MP Raquel Garrido wrote on X earlier: “If the National Rally voted against, the bill would not be adopted. Factual. Arithmetic.”

Lawmaker Mathilde Panot told the broadcaster, Franceinfo, that the government “used National Rally’s votes and National Rally’s ideas to adopt the worst law ever seen” in France’s migration history.

Far-right leader and Macron’s rival, Marine Le Pen, hailed the bill, calling it “a great ideological victory for our movement.”