Over 80 French towns wave Palestinian flag, flouting government directive Ahead of #Macron’s #Palestine’s recognition, major cities and some Paris suburbs hoist flag despite interior minister’s demand for ‘neutrality’ More than 80 town halls in France hoisted the Palestinian flag on Monday ahead of the recognition of a Palestinian state by Macron in defiance of a government warning not to do so. Macron later recognized Palestinian statehood in an address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, joining other countries in a move that has angered Israel. Palestinian flags were raised at town halls in major cities across France — including in Lyon, Nantes, Rennes and Besancon — in defiance of an order by Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau. Even in Paris, left-wing city councilors put up the flag for 30 minutes at the city hall, despite opposition from Socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo.

Around 1.4 million Palestinians have been forced to move from the northern part of the Gaza Strip to its south amid Israeli strikes, Palestine’s Permanent Representative to the Arab League Muhannad Al-Aklouk said on Tuesday. "Some 1.4 million Palestinians have moved from the northern part of the Gaza Strip to the south of the enclave," the Al-Qahera al-Ihbariya television channel quoted him as saying. "The Gaza Strip has turned into a mass burial ground," he said, adding that Israeli strikes have wiped out "entire neighborhoods" in the enclave’s settlements.