French President Francois Hollande today called on Hamas to be disarmed, after the terror group yesterday violated its ceasefire with Israel.
“We are at a critical point. France supports the Egyptian mediation,” Hollande told Le Monde in an interview. “Gaza can no longer remain like it is. The objective must be a demilitarization and a lifting of the blockade.”
Accusing Hamas of breaking the truce with rocket fire eight hours before it was to have expired, Israel recalled its negotiators from truce talks in Cairo on Tuesday.
Hollande called for a “demilitarization” of Gaza under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority (PA). This suggestion is in line with the recent recommendation of experts Alexander Joffe and Asaf Romirowsky, who advocate dissolving the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and transferring its functions to the PA.
Hollande’s demand is consistent with the call of the European Union’s foreign ministers, who, last month, released a statement demanding the disarming of Hamas. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel have similarly called for Hamas to be disarmed.
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