President Macron to hold ceremony to remember French victims of Hamas attack

President Emmanuel Macron will hold a ceremony to pay tribute to French victims who found themselves stuck in the assault launched by Hamas on Israel last year. Macron is expected to participate in the ceremony with the families and relatives of those who have been held hostage by Hamas or killed during the war. The ceremony at the Invalides memorial complex in Paris will pay tribute to the 42 French citizens killed in the attack on Israel by Hamas and the three others still missing, believed to be held hostage.

The event will be attended by the families of the victims, many of whom are being flown to France on a special flight. Every French victim will be represented by a photograph with his or her name. An unnamed official said that the ceremony would be symbolic of the importance of the “fight against antisemitism and through it… all forms of hatred, racism and oppression of minorities.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog was invited but will not be present for scheduling reasons, though representatives of the Israeli embassy in Paris will attend. Soon after Hamas’ onslaught on Israel in October, Macron met his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu where he stressed the importance of forming a global coalition to fight Hamas. “I consider that it is an international coalition in order to fight against this terror group that we have to build,” he said at the time. With inputs from agencies