In a statement, the Foreign Ministry announced Paris’ intention to work with the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), whose president, Mahmud Abbas, appointed the 69-year-old economist the day before, in responding to the urgent challenges facing the devastated Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, target territories of Israeli aggressiveness.

France underlined its support for a strengthened PNA in the face of its indispensable role in meeting the aspirations of the Palestinians, in particular the creation of a State living in peace and security with its neighbor Israel.

Mustafa assumes responsibility in a tense scenario, marked by the indiscriminate war against Gaza that Tel Aviv unleashed in retaliation for the Hamas attacks of October 7.

The day before, French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated his call for a ceasefire in the densely populated territory, where more than 30,000 fatalities have been reported, most of them children, women and the elderly.

ef/lam/wmr