Hamas must have no role in the governance of Gaza, says Macron to meet Sissi

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday that Hamas should not play any role in Gaza’s governance while publicly supporting the Gaza reconstruction plan led by Egyptian at a meeting with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sissi.

The two spoke at a press conference before a summit planned with King Jordan Abdullah II later in the day, in the light of the renewed offensive of Israel against Hamas in Gaza.

Macron launched his support behind the Gaza reconstruction plan unveiled by the Arab League in March, welcoming the “crucial work” of Egypt and saying that it “offers a realistic path to the reconstruction of Gaza”.

He added that the proposal should also “pave the way for new Palestinian governance in the enclave led by the Palestinian Authority” and stressed that Hamas “should have no role in this governance and must no longer constitute a threat to Israel”.

Egypt, with Qatar and the United States, was a mediator between Israel and Hamas. The United States has called Jordan and Egypt to accept Palestinian refugees from Gaza.

Israel has prompted to grasp the territory of Gaza since the collapse of March 18 of a short -term truce with Hamas, in what the government has said that a strategy intended to force the terrorist group to release the hostages it still has.

Macron also pointed out during the Cairo press conference that he firmly opposed any displacement of the Palestinians or the Israeli annexation in Gaza and in the West Bank.

“We are firmly opposed to the displacement of the populations and to any annexation of Gaza and the West Bank,” he said, adding that such results would be “a violation of international law and a serious threat to the security of the whole region, including Israel”.

US President Donald Trump launched a proposal in January to get the Gazans out of the enclave, suggesting that Egypt or Jordan could welcome them. The two countries, as well as other Arab allies, governments around the world and the Palestinians themselves have categorically rejected the concept.

Trump subsequently seemed to go back to the proposal, claiming that he “did not forced” his largely condemned plan; However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu adopted the concept, the appellant “revolutionary” and “creative”.

El-Sissi and Macron also signed strategic partnership agreements on Monday in transport, health and education in Cairo, reported Egyptian state television, while the Egyptian president admitted that “tension in the Red Sea” caused by the Houthi attacks “had a negative impact” of the income from the country of the Suez Canal.

The rebel attacks of Houthis against ships led to a drop in maritime traffic across the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, which caused a drop in revenues from Egypt, because the country bills the costs of passing through the channel.

Egypt has lost $ 7 billion after the decline, said the president.

On Tuesday, the French chief will go to the Egyptian port of El-Arish, near Gaza, to meet humanitarian workers and the security involved in the transport of aid to the strip.

His office said he was planning to meet the workers to demonstrate his “constant mobilization in favor of a cease-fire”.

Most international aid have passed the crossing of Rafah between Gaza and Egypt, but this has been suspended by Israel since early March.