OTTAWA (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday he did not think comments by Israeli officials on a proposed ceasefire in Lebanon were definitive, adding he would work to ensure Israel signed on.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Thursday rejected proposals from the United States and France calling for a 21-day truce. Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister had not responded to the idea.
“I don’t consider that the first comments are definitive coming from Israel. So we will work hard in the hours to come in order to convince Israel to commit and indeed deliver the ceasefire for 21 days,” Macron told a press conference in Montreal during an official visit to Canada.
“We are ready to call for a new meeting of the (U.N.) Security Council in order to raise the question and increase the pressure precisely to deliver concrete results,” he said, speaking in English.
Macron also said France was opposed to Lebanon becoming a new Gaza. He called on Israel to stop its strikes and Hezbollah to stop retaliating.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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