Hamas attack on Israel: what will the tribute to the French victims look like this Wednesday?

Ophélie Artaud with AFP / Photo credit: Ludovic MARIN / AFP 4:30 p.m., February 5, 2024

On October 7, more than 1,160 people lost their lives in Hamas' terrorist attack against Israel. Among them, 42 French nationals. Four months later to the day, this Wednesday February 7, Emmanuel Macron will pay a national tribute to the French victims of this attack, during a ceremony which will take place at Les Invalides in Paris. This will begin at 1 p.m., in the presence of 1,000 people.

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Among them, the families of the victims, some of whom will be transported from Israel by a special flight. The six injured French people, the four French Hamas hostages who were released, as well as the three French people "still missing and presumed hostages", according to the Élysée, will also be affected by this tribute. Each victim will be represented by a photograph with their name.

In fact, the president should first lay a wreath on the monument in memory of the victims of terrorism before paying this public tribute to the Invalides, details FranceInfo. According to our colleagues, the presidents of the National Assembly and the Senate, Yaël Braun-Pivet and Gérard Larcher, will be invited, as will the party leaders.

A tribute “under the sign of the fight against anti-Semitism”

Emmanuel Macron's entourage assures that this tribute "paid to Jewish French citizens" will be "placed under the universal sign of the fight against anti-Semitism and through it (...) all forms of hatred, racism and oppression of minorities. Israeli President Isaac Herzog, invited, will not be present for "agenda reasons", but will be represented by the Israeli embassy in Paris.

The holding of the event was also marked by controversy, several families of victims having requested, in a letter to the Head of State, that the presence of La France insoumise (LFI) be "banned" at Les Invalides, because notably his refusal to qualify Hamas as a “terrorist” group. The Élysée responded on Monday that it was a “republican ceremony” to which, according to the protocol in force since 1989, parliamentarians are invited. The coordinator of LFI, Manuel Bompard, and the president of the group at the Assembly, Mathilde Panot, announced that they wanted to attend.

A “memorial time” to pay tribute to the French victims of the bombings in Gaza should also take place later, the Élysée announced on Monday.