French President Emmanuel Macron insisted Thursday that recognising a Palestinian state would isolate the militant group Hamas and reiterated his condemnation of Israel's devastating offensive in Gaza.
"Recognising a Palestinian state is just deciding to say: 'The legitimate perspective of Palestinian people and what they suffer today has nothing to do with Hamas,'" Macron said in English in an interview with Israeli television's Channel 12.
"Recognition of a Palestinian state is the best way to isolate Hamas."
France and Britain are among several Western countries that have pledged to formally recognise a Palestinian state this month at the United Nations General Assembly.
Their plan aims to sideline Hamas and allow a two-state solution to the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict - a proposal rejected by the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
With the Israeli government authorising the building of more illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank as part of a creeping annexation of the territory, Macron said it was now the "last minute before proposing the two states would become totally impossible".
Israeli tanks and jets pounded Gaza City on Thursday in a major ground offensive, the latest phase in the two-year assault that has killed at least 65,141 people, and led to accusations of genocide from the UN, rights groups and genocide scholars.
"This type of operations in Gaza is totally counterproductive" and "a failure", Macron said.
"You are completely destroying the image and the credibility of Israel, not just in the region, but in public opinion everywhere."