French President Emmanuel Macron will go to an Egyptian port near the Gaza Strip next week to highlight concerns over the conflict in the Palestinian territory, his office said Thursday, April 3. Macron will go to Arish, 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Gaza, next Tuesday during a visit to Egypt, officials said.
Macron will meet humanitarian and security workers next Tuesday to stress his "constant mobilization in favor of a ceasefire," his office said in a statement. Arish is a transit point for international aid intended for Gaza.
But food and other supplies have not been able to use the nearby Rafah crossing from Egypt into Gaza since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was suspended last month. Macron is to go to Egypt on Sunday and on Monday will meet the country's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Egypt has been a mediator in the Israel-Hamas conflict since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks and Macron will stress "the urgency" of securing a new ceasefire so that Gaza's population is no longer has to bear a "humanitarian catastrophe," Israeli strikes are ended and Israeli hostages in Gaza are freed, the French leader's office said. A draft accord on treating Palestinian wounded brought out of Gaza is to be signed during the visit.