Emmanuel Macron urged the Israeli government to “avoid any behavior” that could lead to “escalation”, “especially in Lebanon”, after the – attributed to Israel – strike in Beirut that killed the second-in-command of Hamas, he said. last Tuesday night at the Elysee.

The French president, who spoke by phone with Israeli minister Benny Gantz, a member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s wartime government, stressed that it was “necessary to avoid any behavior that could lead to escalation, especially in Lebanon,” adding that Paris would “continue to deliver this message to all actors directly or indirectly involved” in the conflict, according to his services.

Hamas’s number two, Saleh al-Aruri, was killed in a strike attributed to Israel in a Beirut suburb last night, the Palestinian Islamist movement and sources close to Lebanese authorities said.

This was the first time since the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip almost three months ago that a sector of the Lebanese capital was targeted.

“This crime will not go unanswered or unpunished,” said the Lebanese Hezbollah faction, an ally of Hamas. The Prime Minister of Lebanon, Najib Mikati, for his part, accused Israel of trying to drag Lebanon into the “new phase of the conflict”.

During his conversation with Benny Gantz, Emmanuel Macron called for an effort to declare a “permanent ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas, “with the help of all regional and international partners”, during the French presidency .

He also re-expressed “his very strong concern in the face of the particularly heavy toll of casualties among civilians and the humanitarian crisis situation in Gaza”, while reaffirming once again “France’s commitment to the security of Israel”, always according to the Élysée .