Israel is not participating in the conference on aid to the Gaza Strip

Still, all governments, including Israel, are “interested in seeing the humanitarian situation in Gaza improve,” an aide to Macron told reporters ahead of the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity.

On October 7, Hamas militants invaded Israel across the border from the Gaza Strip, killing more than 1,400 people. people, mostly civilians, and took more than 240 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, more than 10,500 people have already been killed in Israel’s retaliatory military campaign. people, including many children.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that there will be no fuel deliveries to the Gaza Strip and no ceasefire unless the hostages are released.

Macron spoke to Netanyahu on Tuesday and they will speak again after Thursday’s aid conference, the Elysee Palace said.

A source close to Hamas militants told AFP on Wednesday that talks were underway to release 12 hostages held by Hamas, including six Americans, in exchange for a three-day ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Another source said Qatar, in coordination with the United States, was brokering talks “to secure the release of 10 to 15 hostages in exchange for a 1-2 day ceasefire.”

Qatar, like Egypt, is playing an important role in trying to get more aid to the Gaza Strip.

Macron spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on Tuesday, his office said.

Thursday’s aid conference was hastily arranged on the sidelines of the annual Paris Peace Forum on November 10-11.

Few Arab countries are expected to send delegates, although the Palestinian Authority will send its prime minister and Egypt a ministerial delegation.

The Prime Ministers of Greece, Ireland and Luxembourg and EU leaders Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen will participate.

There are no plans to adopt a joint declaration at the end of the conference.

France “insists on a strictly pragmatic, operational, humanitarian tone and does not want this conference to become a platform to condemn Israel,” a European diplomatic source told AFP on condition of anonymity.