French foreign minister affirms right of Palestinians to have sovereign state

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne affirmed Saturday the right of the Palestinians to have a sovereign state.

"The Palestinians have the right to sovereignty and a statehood," Sejourne wrote on X.

He emphasized the commitment of France to stay faithful to the pledge of supporting Palestinians in achieving that goal.

Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on Gaza since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, which Tel Aviv said killed 1,200 people.

At least 24,927 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 62,388 injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza's population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.