The Dixmude will set sail "at the start of the week and arrive in Egypt in the coming days," President Emmanuel Macron's office said.

A charter flight carrying more than 10 tonnes of medical supplies is also planned for the start of the week.

"France will also contribute to the European effort with medical equipment on board European flights on November 23 and 30," the presidential office said.

It added that "France is mobilising all its available means to contribute to the evacuation of wounded and sick children requiring emergency care from the Gaza Strip to its hospitals".

Macron on Saturday spoke with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi about ongoing negotiations to free captives held by Hamas in Gaza.

French defence minister Sebastien Lecornu was also Saturday in Qatar, which is leading the mediation efforts.

The French president and his Egyptian counterpart agreed on the "need to increase the number of trucks entering Gaza and to reinforce coordination to deliver humanitarian aid and treat the wounded," Macron's office said.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after its unprecedented offensive inside Israel on October 7.

Since then, the Israeli army's relentless air and ground campaign on the Gaza Strip has killed at least 12,300 people, most of them civilians, including more than 5,000 children, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

* This story was edited by Ahram Online.