French President Emmanuel Macron shakes hands with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in Ramallah, West Bank, October 24, 2023. French President Emmanuel Macron visited Israel on Tuesday, where he reaffirmed calls to prevent the war from expanding into Lebanon and the wider Arab world, and called for a "decisive" political process with the Palestinians for a viable peace. Christophe Ena/Pool via REUTERS

PARIS, Oct 24 (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday proposed that the existing international coalition fighting against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria could be widened to also include the fight against Hamas in Gaza.

“France is ready for the international coalition against Daesh in which we are taking part for operations in Iraq and Syria to also fight against Hamas,” Macron told reporters alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

(Reporting by Michel Rose, editing by Tassilo Hummel)