US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the rescue of four hostages from the Gaza Strip on Saturday, who were freed in an Israeli special forces operation earlier in the day.
Biden, speaking at a joint press conference at the Élysée Palace in Paris, said the United States would keep working until all hostages returned home.
His national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, praised the Israeli military in a statement.
"We commend the work of the Israeli security services that conducted this daring operation," Sullivan said.
He used the occasion to push for a hostage-ceasefire deal, saying it "would secure the release of all the remaining hostages together with security assurances for Israel and relief for the innocent civilians in Gaza."
Macron spoke out in favour of these goals, but criticized that the situation in the southern city of Rafah. He said the number of people killed and injured after nine months of war were unacceptable.
It was also unacceptable that Israel was not opening all border crossings for humanitarian aid, as the international community had been demanding for months.
Joint efforts would be stepped up to prevent a regional conflagration, especially in Lebanon, said Macron. There was an urgent need to make progress on de-escalation in the Lebanese-Israeli border region.
