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French President Emmanuel Macron will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris on Tuesday to discuss the “full implementation” of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, the Elysee Palace announced.
The meeting comes one month into a fragile truce between Israel and Hamas, following two years of war that erupted after the Palestinian militant group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
According to the French presidency, Macron and Abbas “will discuss the next steps in the peace plan, particularly in the areas of security, governance and reconstruction.”
Abbas, 89, heads the Palestinian Authority (PA), which exercises limited control in parts of the West Bank and is under consideration to assume governance in Gaza under the terms of the ceasefire deal brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The Oct. 10 ceasefire has been repeatedly tested by renewed Israeli strikes and reports of Palestinian attacks on Israeli troops.
Last week, Trump said he expected an International Stabilization Force, tasked with monitoring the ceasefire, to be deployed to Gaza “very soon.”
Tuesday’s meeting also follows Macron’s September decision to recognize a Palestinian state during a United Nations summit, a move the Palestinian Authority described as “historic and courageous.”
The Elysee said Macron is expected to raise the issue of maintaining humanitarian aid access to Gaza and discuss potential reforms within the PA.
Reforming the Palestinian Authority is essential for the establishment of “a democratic and sovereign Palestinian state, living in peace and security alongside Israel,” the presidency said.
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The Hamas attack in October 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Since then, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 69,000 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The ministry, whose figures are deemed reliable by the United Nations, does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.
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