US, Israel clash with Macron on Gaza stance

The White House has pushed back after France's President Emmanuel Macron criticized United States' Gaza policy in a fiery speech at the United Nations General Assembly.

Macron, who is ineligible to stand for another term and will leave office at the presidential election next May, used his final speech at the UN's big annual gathering in New York on Tuesday to say the current US administration's claim that it had secured peace in Gaza was false.

He said no humanitarian corridors had been reopened in the enclave, that conditions remain perilous, and that the world is witnessing something shameful.

"A year ago, here in this very hall, about a dozen states recognized Palestine," Macron said, banging his fist on the podium as he added. "I hear the cynicism of some people: 'Recognition is just a piece of paper, look at the reality'."

Macron asked delegates "what credibility do we have if we continue to remain inactive in the face of Gaza", and he directly criticized the US administration, which has claimed to have secured peace in Gaza, by saying "some boast of a supposed peace, but that peace has not reopened humanitarian access for a single second".

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly responded by saying: "President Donald Trump ended the war between Israel and Hamas, freed all living hostages, returned the bodies of the deceased to their loved ones, and is now leading the implementation of the 20-Point Plan for Peace in Gaza. While others talk, this president took this complex problem head on. No one has done more for peace and stability in the region."

Macron has, however, been increasingly active since recognizing a Palestinian state last September, toughening France's position on Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and introducing sanctions against Israel.

France is also banning products produced in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, where Macron said the situation "is building, day by day, the impossibility of a project that should be based on respect for the legitimate right of the Palestinian people to exist".

Israel hit back at Macron's claim that Hamas, which is the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, does not have a presence in the occupied West Bank, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office saying: "Hamas ... carry out attacks against Jews almost every day."

Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, wrote on X on Wednesday it was "hard to imagine a more out of touch with reality speech than Macron at UN".

But several nations are known to agree with Macron and are expected to make similar comments in speeches at the ongoing UN general assembly.