"There is no humanitarian blockade [in Gaza]. That is a blatant lie," the Israel Foreign Ministry wrote on Twitter/X on Friday, in response to comments made by French President Emmanuel Macron earlier in the day.
"President Macron's campaign against the Jewish state continues. The facts do not interest Macron," the post added.
President Macron’s Crusade Against the Jewish State Continues.The facts do not interest Macron.There is no humanitarian blockade.That is a blatant lie.Israel is currently facilitating the entry of aid to Gaza through two parallel efforts.In the first effort, nearly 900 aid… pic.twitter.com/cUr3xthnRK
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) May 30, 2025
Within the past week, Israel has facilitated the entry of nearly 900 aid trucks into Gaza, with hundreds more ready for UN collection and distribution, and the Gaza Humanitarian Fund has provided Gazans with two million meals and tens of thousands of aid packages, the MFA wrote.
The distribution of aid directly to Gazans, sidestepping Hamas, has "already changed the situation on the group," according to the MFA.
Yet, instead of "applying pressure on the jihadist terrorists, Macron wants to reward them with a Palestinian state," and is looking to impose sanctions on Israel, the statement added.
Hamas has praised Macron's statements in response, it concluded.
Aid distribution disrupting Hamas control in enclave
The early success of the American-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation-run aid centers has the ability to significantly dent Hamas’s control over food distribution in the coastal enclave, The Jerusalem Post learned Friday.
Aid has been flowing into the enclave, IDF spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin confirmed in a video on Friday morning, while at the Kerem Shalom crossing. "The responsibility now falls on the UN and international organizations to ensure its proper distribution."
"Two centers are operating so far and the third will be ready in the coming days," Defrin said.
"The aid is coming in, but UN organizations prefer to cooperate with Hamas than with us," he added.
Macron willing to impose sanctions if alleged aid blockade continues
Macron on Friday said that France could harden its position on Israel if it continues to block humanitarian aid to Gaza and reiterated that Paris was committed to a two-state solution to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
"The humanitarian blockade is creating a situation that is untenable on the ground," Macron said at a joint press conference in Singapore with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.
"And so, if there is no response that meets the humanitarian situation in the coming hours and days, obviously, we will have to toughen our collective position," Macron said, adding that France may consider applying sanctions against Israeli settlers.
"But I still hope that the government of Israel will change its stance and that we will finally have a humanitarian response."
France stands behind a two-state solution
French President Emmanuel Macron said in April that France could recognize a Palestinian state in June, adding that, in turn, some countries in the Middle East could recognize the state of Israel.
"We need to move towards recognition [of a Palestinian state]. And so over the next few months, we will. I'm not doing it to please anyone. I'll do it because at some point it will be right," he said during an interview on France 5 television.
"And because I also want to take part in a collective dynamic that should also enable those who defend Palestine to recognize Israel in their turn, something that many of them are not doing," the French president declared.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot delivered a speech on Wednesday, reiterating the country's stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, urging "the implementation of a two-state solution." Barrot also announced that France will co-host, alongside Saudi Arabia, a United Nations conference in June regarding this topic.
The American embassy argued in response that the implementation of a two-state solution would constitute a "reward for Hamas' shocking attack on Israel," in reference to the Washington shooting attack at the Jewish Museum in which Elias Rodriguez killed two Israeli embassy staffers, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim.
Reuters contributed to this report.
