The French government expects Arab countries to condemn the Palestinian militant organization Hamas at a high-level UN conference in New York on Monday on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has said.
The call comes days after Paris said it intends to recognize Palestine as a state. It would be the first such condemnation of the militant organization and would seal the final isolation of Hamas, Barrot said in an interview with Sunday's edition of the French newspaper La Tribune.
Chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, the two-day conference is due to discuss a possible two-state solution to the conflict.
Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip in 2007.
Following the Hamas attack on Israel and the massacre of civilians on October 7, 2023, Israel's army launched a military operation to dismantle the organization.
Barrot went on to say that European countries would reaffirm their intention to recognize Palestine as a state in New York.
"Half of the European countries have already done so. All the others are thinking about it," he asserted.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday that France - as the first state in the Group of Seven (G7) leading nations - would recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September.
The UK and Germany did not initially follow suit.
"We will launch an appeal in New York to persuade other countries to join us," Barrot said.
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