French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot on Friday strongly condemned Israel’s plan to take over Gaza City.
“France strongly condemns the Israeli government’s plan aimed at preparing for the complete occupation of Gaza,” Barrot wrote in a post on social media site X.
“Such an operation would worsen an already catastrophic situation without enabling the release of Hamas hostages, its disarmament, or its surrender,” he added.
The Cabinet approved the plan for Israel to take over Gaza early Friday morning.
The Cabinet also adopted, by a majority vote, five principles for ending the war, including disarming Hamas, the return of all hostages, demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, Israeli security control over the Gaza Strip and the establishment of an alternative civilian administration, which is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority.
Earlier on Friday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced an arms embargo on Israel following the Cabinet’s decision.
In a statement, the German Chancellor said he is "very concerned about the suffering of the population in the Strip." He also demanded that Israel "not take any steps toward annexation" of Judea and Samaria.
France recently caused an uproar after President Emmanuel Macron announced that his country would officially recognize the “State of Palestine” in September.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced Macron’s announcement.
"We strongly condemn President Macron’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state next to Tel Aviv in the wake of the October 7 massacre. Such a move rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became. A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel — not to live in peace beside it. Let’s be clear: the Palestinians do not seek a state alongside Israel; they seek a state instead of Israel," he said.
Hamas, however, welcomed Macron’s announcement and said it was “a positive step in the right direction toward achieving justice for the Palestinian people and supporting their legitimate right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital on all the occupied lands.”
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)