PARIS, Feb 16: President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that recognising a Palestinian state was "not a taboo for France" in his first such comments since the start of the war in Gaza.
"The recognition of a Palestinian state is not a taboo for France," he said at a joint press conference in Paris with Jordans King Abdullah II.
His comments come after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a plan for international recognition of such a state, following reports of such an initiative in The Washington Post.
The US newspaper reported that US President Joe Bidens administration and a small group of Arab nations were working out a comprehensive plan for long-term peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
It included a firm timeline for the establishment of a Palestinian state, the report said.
Macron also repeated a warning against Israel attacking the city of Rafah, the southernmost point in the besieged and bombarded Palestinian territory of Gaza.
"An Israeli offensive in Rafah could only bring about an unprecedented humanitarian disaster and would be a turning point in this conflict," he said.
The latest Gaza war began after Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also took about 250 people hostage, around 130 of whom are still in Gaza, according to Israeli figures. Israel says 30 of the remaining captives are presumed dead.
Israels blistering assault on Gaza since has killed at least 28,775 people, mostly women and children, according to the territorys health ministry.
Fears of mass displacement have mounted with Netanyahus insistence that troops must push into Rafah to achieve "complete victory" over Hamas. —AFP
