Gaza does not ‘qualify as genocide’ – Macron

France does not believe that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide, French President Emmanuel Macron has said.

A UN commission of inquiry published a report on Tuesday concluding that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the enclave.

“We don’t qualify as a genocide what’s happening because it is not a political statement,” Macron said in an interview with CBS News released in full on Sunday, when asked about the UN report.

He explained that the verdict will be for “the judges or the historians” to pass after considering the “evidence and clear jurisprudence.”

According to the UN report, Israeli authorities and security forces have committed multiple acts that fall under the 1948 Genocide Convention. These include deliberately imposing conditions on Gaza aimed at destroying “Palestinians in whole or in part,” as well as killing “unprecedented numbers” of people in the enclave.

The death toll among the Palestinians has surpassed 65,000 as of Saturday, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.

Thirteen countries, including Belgium, Brazil, Türkiye, Ireland, and Spain, are supporting a genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel in the International Court of Justice. While Israel is not a party to the Hague-based court’s statute, it is a signatory to the Genocide Convention of 1948, a treaty that Pretoria says it has violated.

Earlier this week, the Israel Defense Forces intensified its campaign against Hamas, launching a major ground offensive on Gaza City in a move it says is aimed at dismantling the militant group’s remaining networks and returning the remaining Israeli hostages.

Hamas-led raiders captured more than 250 hostages and killed around 1,200 people in a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The Israeli military says the group still holds around 48 hostages. It is not publicly known how many are still alive.