Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas today called on the president of France Emmanuel Macron to make efforts to “stop the onslaught” on Gaza, even as the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas enters its 18th day.

“We urge you, President Macron, to (ensure) that this attack stops immediately,” Abbas said in Gaza, calling for the protection of the Palestinian people, according to his statements to reporters at the end of his meeting with the French president, at the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.

“I see, I hear the suffering of the civilian population in Gaza and, as far as France is concerned, nothing can justify it,” the French president replied. The attack by Hamas is “also a disaster for the Palestinians,” he said.

As Macron had confirmed earlier today in Jerusalem on Israel’s right to self-defense, Abbas blamed Israel “and the countries that support it for the conflict” without once mentioning Hamas.

Abbas also called for the creation of an “international coalition for peace” and an international peace conference, appearing to indirectly respond to Macron’s proposal earlier today to create an international coalition to “fight” Hamas.

THE Abbas condemned in very harsh terms Israel’s shelling of the Gaza Strip “which brutally kills innocent civilians”.

The Hamas Health Ministry states that 5,791 people have died from it October 7th and the start of Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip. The bombings are in response to an unprecedented attack by Hamas that day that killed around 1,400 people and took more than 200 hostages.

Facing Abbas, Macron again advocated the start of a political process between Israel and the Palestinians. He did it earlier today in Jerusalem as well.

Macron said prerequisites for a sustainable peace are the “relentless and unequivocal fight against terrorism” and the mutual recognition of Israeli and Palestinian rights.