PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday described the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel as the “biggest anti-Semitic massacre of our century” as he hosted a ceremony paying tribute to the French victims.
He described the attack by the Palestinian group as “barbarism… which is fed by anti-Semitism and propagates it”, vowing also not to give in to “rampant and uninhibited anti-Semitism”.
The ceremony at the Invalides memorial complex in Paris paid tribute to the 42 French citizens killed in the attack on Israel by Hamas and the three others still missing, believed to be held hostage.
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Macron said France would work “every day” for the release of the remaining French hostages. “Their empty chairs are there,” he said at the ceremony.
“Nothing can justify or excuse terrorism,” he said.
The French presidency has also indicated it will provide an opportunity to remember French victims of Israel’s bombardments of the Gaza Strip, but has not given details on the format.
The bloodiest ever Gaza war started with Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Fighters also seized around 250 hostages. Israel says 132 remain in Gaza, of whom 29 are believed to have died.
Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas and launched air strikes and a ground offensive that have killed at least 27,585 people, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry.
“All lives are equal, are invaluable in the eyes of France,” said Macron, describing war as a “tornado of suffering”.
He also vowed that France would “never allow the spirit of revenge to prosper” and that “in these challenges nothing should divide us”.
He said that France would do everything to “respond to the aspirations of peace and security for everyone in the Middle East”.
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