France, Germany and the UK Call for an Urgent Ceasefire in Gaza

France, Germany and the United Kingdom today backed the negotiation of a ceasefire in Gaza and warned Iran against any further escalation of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas.

The leaders of the three countries said in a joint statement that "the fighting must stop immediately and all hostages still held by Hamas must be released". 

The declaration is signed by French President Emmanuel Macron and the heads of the German, Olaf Scholz, and British governments, Keir Starmer.

The three leaders supported the call by their counterparts from the United States, Egypt and Qatar - mediators in the conflict - "for the immediate resumption of negotiations" between Israel and the Palestinian extremist group Hamas, at a meeting scheduled for 15 August.

Ten months after the Hamas attack on Israel that left around 1,200 dead on 7 October, Israel's retaliatory offensive has left almost 39,800 dead in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas and other extremist Palestinian groups are holding 111 people hostage, 39 of whom have been killed, according to the Israeli army, quoted by the French news agency AFP.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to rescue all the hostages, including the dead.

Macron, Scholz and Starmer agreed that "there can be no further delay" in the ceasefire negotiations.

"The people of Gaza need urgent help without delay," they said in a statement posted on social media.

They also said they were "deeply concerned about the worsening tensions in the region".

The conflict took on a new dimension with the assassinations in July of Lebanese Hezbollah military chief Fouad Chokr near Beirut and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

The Iranian regime said it had "the legal right to punish" Israel for Haniyeh's death, which has not been claimed because it was committed on its territory.

For Paris, London and Berlin, "no country or nation stands to gain from a new escalation in the Middle East".

"We call on Iran and its allies to refrain from attacks that further aggravate regional tensions and jeopardise the possibility of reaching a ceasefire and the release of hostages," the three European leaders urged.

They considered that Iran and its allies, such as Lebanon's Hezbollah and Yemen's Huthis, "will be responsible for actions that jeopardise" any chance of peace and stability in the Middle East region.