Macron Challenges Trump's Gaza Peace Claims in Final UN Address

France's President Emmanuel Macron used his final address to the United Nations General Assembly to sharply question US President Donald Trump's portrayal of his Gaza peace plan as a diplomatic success, stating that not a single humanitarian corridor had been reopened in the enclave despite the declared peace.

Speaking on Tuesday, hours after Trump had hailed the plan from the same podium, Macron said the situation amounted to a spectacle that should shame the international community. He struck the rostrum with his fist as he asked what credibility world powers retained if they remained inactive on Gaza, noting that a supposed peace had not restored humanitarian access for even a moment.

Trump, in his earlier remarks, had said the war in Gaza was raging when he addressed the assembly a year ago and that his administration ended it weeks later, saving thousands of lives. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Macron's criticism.

Macron, who is due to leave office next May, also turned his attention to the West Bank, warning that daily violations there were steadily making a viable Palestinian project impossible. He pointed out that Hamas has never operated in the West Bank, challenging the logic behind actions that he said undermined the legitimate right of the Palestinian people to exist.

France has recently hardened its position on settler violence, imposing national sanctions and initiating a process to ban products from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Macron said those who believed that violating the sovereignty of Israel's neighbours would guarantee its security were mistaken, arguing that such actions weakened Israel both now and in the future.

Reflecting on his tenure, Macron acknowledged criticism that he had failed to convert diplomatic symbolism into lasting strategic gains, but he remained a firm defender of multilateralism. He warned against a global drift toward the law of the jungle, urging countries to choose a civilised international society over one governed by power and coercion. He closed his speech with the words: "Long Live the United Nations!"