“Deep indignation at the images coming from Gaza where civilians have been targeted by Israeli soldiers,” Macron said on Friday.
According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, Israeli troops on Thursday opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians racing to grab food off delivery trucks in Gaza City, killing more than 100 people and injuring more than 700.
Israel has contested this version of events, saying that most of the casualties were caused in a stampede as people rushed to get supplies. According to local media reports, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that its soldiers only opened fire when they felt endangered and caused fewer than 10 casualtiess, the Times of Israel reported.
Macron condemned the shooting, reiterating that “all civilian population must be protected.”
French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné also called for a probe.
“We will demand explanations and there will need to be an independent investigation to determine what happened,” he told radio station France Inter. “France calls things by their name. It says things when it comes to describing Hamas as terrorists. But it must also say things when there are atrocities in Gaza.”
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