Paris, November 9: French President Emmanuel Macron opened a Gaza aid conference on Thursday with an appeal for Israel to protect civilians, saying that “all lives have equal worth” and that fighting terrorism “can never be carried out without rules.” “Civilians must be protected. It's absolutely essential. It is non-negotiable,” Macron said.

He reiterated calls for a humanitarian pause in Israel's operations against Hamas. He said that by attacking Israel on October 7, Hamas “shouldered the responsibility for exposing Palestinians to terrible consequences” and he again defended Israel's right to defend itself. Israel-Hamas War: 39 Journalists and Media Workers Killed So Far in Gaza Strip Since October 7.

But he added that “fighting terrorism can never be carried out without rules. Israel knows that. The trap of terrorism is for all of us the same: giving in to violence and renouncing our values.” “All lives have equal worth and there are no double standards for those of us with universal and humanist values,” he said.