French Foreign Minister Urges Israel Not to Invade Lebanon

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (R) meets with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (L) at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 30 September 2024. (EPA)
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (R) meets with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (L) at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 30 September 2024. (EPA)
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French Foreign Minister Urges Israel Not to Invade Lebanon

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (R) meets with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (L) at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 30 September 2024. (EPA)
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (R) meets with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (L) at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 30 September 2024. (EPA)

France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has urged Israel to refrain from launching a ground offensive in Lebanon and to reach a cease-fire with the Lebanese group Hezbollah after nearly two weeks of escalating tit-for-tat strikes across Israel's northern border.

“There is still hope, but there is little time left,” Barrot said during a news conference in Beirut Monday, just hours after an Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in the heart of the Lebanese capital. “I therefore urge Israel to refrain from any ground incursion and to cease fire.”

He also urged Hezbollah to stop firing on Israel, saying it “bears heavy responsibility in the current situation, given its choice to enter the conflict” after ally Hamas’ Oct. 7 deadly incursion into southern Israel.

Barrot was in Lebanon to delivery medical aid and hospital equipment. He met with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

He expressed solidarity with the Lebanese people, saying they are “caught in a war (they) did not choose,” and said France will provide flights for any French nationals who want to leave Lebanon.



US Says Israel Must Improve Gaza's Humanitarian Situation or Risk Aid

 People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
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US Says Israel Must Improve Gaza's Humanitarian Situation or Risk Aid

 People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Israel must take urgent steps to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza to avoid legal action involving US military aid, according to news reports on Tuesday.

"We are writing now to underscore the US government's deep concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, and seek urgent and sustained actions by your government this month to reverse this trajectory," they wrote in an Oct. 13 letter to their Israeli counterparts, posted by an Axios reporter on X, according to Reuters.

The State Department and Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives for Israel's government also could not be immediately reached for comment.

The report comes as Israeli forces expand operations into northern Gaza amid ongoing concerns about access to humanitarian aid throughout the enclave and civilians' access to food, water and medicine.

US officials earlier this year said Israel may have violated international humanitarian law using US-supplied weapons during its military operation in Gaza.

This week's letter cited Section 620i of the Foreign Assistance Act, which restricts (prohibits) military aid to countries that impede delivery of US humanitarian assistance.

It also cited a National Security Memorandum that US President Joe Biden issued in February that requires the State Department to report to Congress on whether it finds credible Israel's assurances that its use of US weapons does not violate US or international law.