A man stands atop the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike as a bulldozer clears debris in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Saturday, March 14, 2026. AP
"The Lebanese government has signalled its willingness to engage in direct talks with Israel," he said on X, adding that "all sections of society must be represented in these talks."
"France is ready to facilitate these talks by hosting them in Paris," Macron said, adding he had spoken to the president and prime minister of Lebanon, a former French protectorate.
"Everything must be done to prevent Lebanon from descending into chaos," Macron added.
"Hezbollah must immediately halt its reckless course. Israel must abandon plans for a large-scale offensive and cease its massive air strikes."
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Friday that more than 700 people, including 103 children, have died in the war.
In just 10 days, more than 800,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced by the Israeli war on Lebanon, just over a year since the last conflict uprooted over a million Lebanese from their homes.
That’s one in every seven people in the tiny country, according to the humanitarian organisation the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Many don’t have a place to stay, and the cash-strapped government has only been able to accommodate roughly 120,000 people as it scrambles to open shelters and bring in more supplies.
Fearing becoming a target, landlords have been hiking apartment rents to dissuade new tenants.
Hotels, meanwhile, have been vetting guests more strictly since Israel struck two hotel rooms, saying it was targeting Iranian Revolutionary Guard members who were operating in Beirut.
Some who don’t have family and friends to stay with or can't afford an apartment or a hotel room have been sleeping on the streets or in their cars around central Beirut, trading comfort for safety.
That sense of safety was shattered, though, after an overnight Israeli strike killed at least eight people and wounded more than 30 others in the capital’s Ramlet el-Bayda neighbourhood, where many displaced people pitched tents by the sea or slept on mattresses on the boardwalk.
Humanitarian groups, saddled by years of underfunding, are struggling to keep up. They warn of a humanitarian crisis.
“The needs are escalating much faster than our capacity to respond,” Mathieu Luciano, the head of the International Organisation for Migration in Lebanon, said during a recent press briefing.
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