Defense Minister says Israel will not participate in a trilateral group with the United States and France because of Paris' “hostile policies.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant rejected a French initiative aimed at defusing rising tensions between Israel and Hezbollah as fears of an all-out war between the two sides grow.
Gallant said on Friday that Israel would not participate in a trilateral group proposed by France with the United States and France while criticizing Paris' position on the war in Gaza.
“While we fight a just war, defending our people, France has adopted hostile policies against Israel,” Gallant said in a statement. “In doing so, France ignores the atrocities committed by Hamas against Israeli children, women and men. “Israel will not be part of the trilateral framework proposed by France.”
It was unclear whether Gallant, who is the subject of a war crimes investigation by International Criminal Court prosecutors, was speaking on behalf of the entire Israeli government or his own office.
Israeli ministers have at times issued contradictory statements on the same issue, including recently on whether the country accepts the US proposal for a “durable” ceasefire in Gaza.
Later on Friday, several Israeli media outlets said that Israeli Foreign Ministry officials rejected Gallant's statement against France, calling it “incorrect and inappropriate.”
Paris has repeatedly denounced the deadly October 7 Hamas attacks in Israel, but has also criticized the Israeli offensive in Rafah, southern Gaza, and called on the country to respect international humanitarian law. Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed more than 37,000 Palestinians since October 7.
French President Emmanuel Macron presented Lebanon's proposal on Thursday after days of escalation on the Lebanon-Israel border. France, which enjoys close relations with Lebanon, has attempted to advance a negotiated resolution.
“With the United States we agreed on the principle of a trilateral alliance [contact group] -Israel, the United States and France- to advance the roadmap we proposed, and we will do the same with the Lebanese authorities,” Macron stated.
In February, Paris presented a plan to end hostilities that would see Hezbollah withdraw 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border, Israel halt its attacks on southern Lebanon and negotiations over disputed border areas.
Hezbollah has said that any diplomatic agreement can only materialize after the end of Israel's war against Gaza. The Lebanese organization began attacking military bases in northern Israel after the outbreak of war in Gaza in what it says is a “support front” to back Palestinian armed groups.
Israel responded by bombing villages throughout southern Lebanon and attacking Hezbollah positions. Despite almost daily exchanges of gunfire, clashes have largely been limited to the border area.
But cross-border clashes have intensified in recent weeks, raising the prospects of a major war.
On Thursday, Hezbollah said it fired 150 rockets and launched 30 suicide drones at Israeli military positions in response to the assassination of one of its top commanders this week. Later that day, an Israeli airstrike killed two women and injured 15 other civilians in the southern Lebanese village of Jinata.
Hezbollah on Friday announced several military operations against Israel, including a rocket attack on a building housing Israeli soldiers.
Tens of thousands of people in southern Lebanon and northern Israel have fled their homes to escape the violence.
Hezbollah says it is ready for war if Israel launches a major attack. Meanwhile, Israeli officials have vowed to keep Hezbollah fighters away from the country's border.
American and Western officials have warned against an escalation in Lebanon.
“We are going to continue working to try to achieve calm in northern Israel and achieve a diplomatic resolution that allows the tens of thousands of Israelis who have been displaced from their homes and the tens of thousands of Lebanese who have been displaced from their homes. displaced from their homes to return home,” U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Thursday.
“We continue to believe… that a ceasefire in Gaza is the best way to achieve that diplomatic resolution.”
