French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Monday told Israel that it had a legitimate right to full security but this right does not authorise Israel to massacre children and other civilians in Gaza.
Fabius also called on the international community "to impose" a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the two parties are incapable of finding a negotiated settlement.
"How many more dead will it take to stop what me must label the carnage in Gaza," Fabius asked in a solemn statement here.
He told Israel that the long-lasting friendship with France goes back a long way and Paris understands the security needs of the Jewish State but he warned that was not a green light to massively kill civilians in Gaza.
The death toll from almost four weeks of Israeli bombardments from the air, by sea and from land strikes was estimated at close to 1,700 in Gaza, with about 25 percent of these children and many innocent women and men among that figure. Only around 20 percent of the Gaza dead are thought to be linked with the Hamas group. Also, the wounded number 8,000, many of them serious and unable to get proper treatment.
Israel admits to 64 soldiers killed, and two civilians died when hit by Hamas rockets.
"The tradition of friendship between Israel and France is old and the right of Israel to security is total, but this right does not justify the killing of children and the massacre of civlians," Fabius wrote in his latest statement.
He blamed Hamas for having the largest part of responsiblity in the spiral of violence, which he said serves the purpose of extremists.
Nonetheless, Hamas actions do not authorise Israel to pummel Gaza and "do not justify what the Secretary-General of the United Nations has labeled crimes" by Israel.
Israeli forces have several times shelled UN schools in Gaza, causing dozens of deaths in operations that are a clear breach of international law.
Fabius repeated that France supported the cease-fire initiative put forward by Egypt and was ready to make a concrete contribution - along with Europe - to put the cease-fire in place.
France's chief diplomat also urged a long-term solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict be imposed on the two parties according to the known parametres because only an imposed solution seems possible given the lack of success of a negotiated settlement and the obstacles between the two parties.
Source: KUNA