Macron says Israeli PM's measures on Gaza 'unacceptable' and 'shameful'

Paris, France (AFP) May 13 - French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of "unacceptable" and "shameful" behaviour in blocking aid to the Palestinians in Gaza.

"What the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is doing is unacceptable... There is no water, no medicine, the wounded cannot get out, the doctors cannot get in. What he is doing is shameful," Macron told TF1 television.

"We need the United States. President (Donald) Trump has the levers. I have had tough words with Prime Minister Netanyahu. I got angry, but they (Israel) don't depend on us, they depend on American weapons," he added.

France's President Emmanuel Macron appears on the main control room screens of the French channel TF1 during his guest appearance on a special program in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on May 13, 2025. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)

Macron emphasised that he himself had visited the border between Egypt and Gaza earlier this year where he saw that "all the aid that France and other countries deliver" is "blocked by the Israelis."

"This is an unacceptable humanitarian tragedy," he said, adding that "it is not up to a president of the republic to say 'this is a genocide' but rather to historians."

The October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.

Militants also abducted 251 people, of whom 57 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 declared dead by the Israeli army.

The Israeli offensive launched in retaliation for the October 7 attack has killed at least 52,908 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to data from the Gaza health ministry, which is considered reliable by the UN.

"The humanitarian crisis (in Gaza) is the most serious we have known" since October 7, 2023, said Macron.