Gaza truce and two-state prospects at risk as settlement plan advances, France warns
NEW YORK CITY: France warned the UN Security Council on Wednesday that the “untenable” situation in Gaza and the West Bank was jeopardizing the prospects for peace arising from the October 2025 Gaza ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
It came as council members met to discuss the latest developments in the implementation of Security Council Resolution 2803, which was adopted in November last year and endorsed a US-backed peace plan for Gaza, and the broader push toward a two-state solution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
Jerome Bonnafont, France’s permanent representative to the UN, told the council that continuing obstacles to deliveries of humanitarian aid in Gaza, caused by arbitrary closures of crossing points and restrictions on goods deemed to be “dual use,” meaning they are civilian products that might theoretically be repurposed for military use, remain unjustifiable more than 10 months into the ceasefire agreement.
France was alarmed by daily violations of the truce, he added, and firmly condemned recent public remarks by the Israeli national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, in which he called for dozens of people to be killed each night in Gaza.
