France tries to break UN Gaza stalemate after Russia, China ...

Macron now hopes to step in as a mediator with a new U.N. draft resolution, which he said would be prepared with “several regional partners, in particular in the Arab world,” which will help lift the Chinese and Russian vetoes.

“It’s with this procedure that we hope to advance this text,” he said.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces appear poised to launch an operation in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip.

On Friday, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. Secretary Antony Blinken that Israel intends to carry out an offensive even if the U.S. does not support it.

“We have no way to defeat Hamas without getting into Rafah and eliminating the battalions that are left there,” Netanyahu said.

More than 1 million Palestinians have sought refuge in the south of the Gaza Strip near the border with Egypt, living in cramped conditions amid shortages of food, water, and medication.