Macron: Talks to free Gaza hostages progressing, Turkey also involved

Turkey’s top diplomat said Tuesday his country had been in touch with Hamas over some 200 Israeli and foreign hostages the terror group is holding in Gaza, following requests from several governments.

French President Emmanuel Macron also said that talks to free hostages were ongoing and progressing. Hebrew media reported that he will visit Israel in the coming days, and though the French embassy did not confirm the plans, it said he did wish to make such a trip.

“So far, we have received requests from various countries for the release of their citizens. As a result, we started to discuss these issues, especially with the political wing of Hamas,” Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said at a news conference in Beirut alongside his Lebanese counterpart, Abdallah Bou Habib.

Fidan’s comments come a day after he spoke with Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh on the phone about the possibility of the release of hostages.

“Our efforts continue, especially for the release of foreigners, civilians and children. We will continue our efforts to ensure lasting peace,” Fidan said on Tuesday. The vast majority of the captives are civilians.

Fidan was set to join a meeting in the Saudi city of Jeddah on Wednesday of foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a vocal advocate of the Palestinian cause, has stepped up diplomatic contacts with Western and regional powers after offering to mediate to restore peace.

Some 200-250 hostages of all ages and different nationalities were taken during Hamas’s October 7 massacre, when at least 1,500 terrorists smashed their way into Israel by land, air and sea, and killed some 1,300 people under the cover of a barrage of thousands of rockets fired at towns and cities.

The overwhelming majority of those murdered by the gunmen, who temporarily seized control of border communities, were civilians — men, women, children, and the elderly. Entire families were executed in their homes, and over 260 were slaughtered at an outdoor music festival, many amid horrific acts of brutality by the terrorists, in what US President Joe Biden later highlighted as “the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”

In the 10 days since the war erupted, Israel has responded with an intense bombing campaign that it says is aimed at destroying Hamas’s infrastructure, and has vowed to eliminate the Gaza-ruling terror group, which it is deeply embedded within the civilian population. The military says it’s striving to cause minimum harm to uninvolved citizens, urged Gazans to evacuate northern Gaza, and charged that Hamas seeks to use Gazan civilians as human shields.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has reported that Israel’s strikes have killed more than 2,700 Palestinians, claiming that many of them are women and children. Israel has said that its forces also killed some 1,500 Palestinian terrorists in its territory following the mass invasion.

The IDF is massed along the border with Gaza for what appears to be an imminent ground operation.

Visiting Albania, France’s Macron said intense talks are ongoing to free hostages after the mother of French-Israeli hostage Mia Schem begged world leaders to help get her released.

The French Embassy did not confirm reports that he will make a trip to Israel, but said Macron wants to visit as soon as there is a “useful agenda and concrete actions to promote.”

“I want to be very cautious here… so as not to endanger the intense talks we are currently conducting,” Macron told reporters in Albania’s capital, Tirana. “But they are progressing and we are following these talks hour by hour.”

Keren Schem, Mia’s mother, urged world leaders to free her daughter after Hamas aired a video showing her in captivity.

“I ask world leaders that my daughter be returned to us in the state that she is today, as well as the other hostages,” Keren Schem told a press conference in Tel Aviv.

“I beg the world to return my baby to me,” Schem said after Macron demanded her immediate and unconditional release.

The video of Mia Schem was the first sign of life the world has received from any of the hostages taken from southern Israel during Hamas’s onslaught. It has been described as a propaganda video and an attempt at “psychological terror” by the military. Schem appears to have been singled out by Hamas because of her dual citizenship, and the terror group seems to want international audiences to think that it is not harming foreign nationals.

In the video, Mia’s right arm is bandaged to the elbow and someone is seen off-camera attending to her arm. She also delivers a statement, asking to be returned to her family.

According to The New York Times, metadata attached to the video file shows it was recorded six days ago.

Keren Schem said her daughter was at the outdoor rave in the desert near the border when she was abducted to Gaza during the massacre.

“Now she is in Gaza. She is not the only one. There are many adults, children, babies, and Holocaust survivors,” she said of other Israelis and foreigners held by terrorists. “It is a crime against humanity. All together we need to stop this terror.”

Israeli forces have carried out localized raids across the border, during which they have located the bodies of some of those who were abducted, with the latest such operation taking place on Tuesday, an army spokesman said.

Also Tuesday, China announced that its special envoy to the Middle East, Zhai Jun, will visit the area this week, after the United States asked it to use its influence to stop the conflict from spreading to other fronts.

Washington says it hopes China’s friendship with Iran, a major backer of Hamas, could help calm the conflict, particularly after Beijing brokered a detente between long-time foes Tehran and Riyadh earlier this year.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said the visit’s objective was “to pool international consensus, urge relevant parties to stop hostilities, cool down the situation and create necessary conditions for political settlement.”

No details have yet been announced on Zhai’s itinerary or the exact timing of his trip.