Macron pledged that Israel was not alone and that “France is ready for the coalition, which is fighting in Iraq and Syria against ISIS, to also fight against Hamas.”

The United States is part of that coalition. There are currently 2,500 U.S. troops in Iraq and another 900 in Syria. Macron did not offer details nor did he describe what he meant by “fight” and where that fight might take place.

Macron’s office told Reuters afterward that the coalition against the Islamic State “does not limit itself to operations on the ground, but is also involved in the training of Iraqi forces, the sharing of information between partners” and funding to fight terrorism.

American and European officials are wary of the Israel-Hamas war sparking wider regional conflict and dragging other antagonists — including Iran — more deeply into conflict.

In his remarks, Macron warned the militant group Hezbollah and its patron Iran against opening a new front on Israel’s northern border, where Israel and Lebanon have both evacuated communities, amid near daily exchanges of fire.

Macron also stressed that “the stability of the Middle East will only be possible if Israel also allows for political approach to the conflict with Palestinians.”

In a nod to the more than 200 hostages still held in Gaza, including French nationals, Macron said “we share with Israel the challenge of having to deal with hostages taken by Hamas.”

As the two leaders spoke, an Israeli hostage released Monday night by Hamas, Yocheved Lifshitz, described her “nightmare” kidnapping ordeal. She described being thrown over the back of a motorcycle, beaten by sticks and held in a “spiderweb” of damp tunnels after she was abducted from a kibbutz in southern Israel on Oct. 7.

The hostages were taken to a “huge network” of tunnels, and she described how they walked for two to three hours in damp passageways until they reached a large hall, where their group of 25 hostages was separated according to which kibbutz they were from.

She said her captors seemed prepared for hostages and had clean rooms with mattresses on the ground. The hostages were treated well, she said, and received medication and regular visits from a doctor.

Sharone Lifschitz, her daughter who is normally based in London, also spoke about her 83-year-old father, Oded, who is still believed to be in Gaza. She told the BBC that her father was “very involved” in campaigning for the rights of Palestinians. “I hope he is being looked after and has the chance to talk. He speaks good Arabic, so he can communicate very well with the people there.”

Asked whether this was the end of her parents’ dream of living in peace with neighbors, she said, “No, no, no, no … I don’t think so at all, we have to find ways because there is no alternative. If anything it makes me more resolved.”

Watching the wan, fragile Lifshitz, seated in a wheelchair, describing her ordeal at a raucous news conference in a noisy hospital lobby, many Israeli tempers boiled, with some especially angry that the former hostage said she had been treated well by Hamas.

Hagar Sides, a social media analyst and activist, said that the “problematic media event” was an example of “the service the mass media provides to terrorist organizations. What we just witnessed was the “theater of terror” and an example of how “Hamas is running the event.”

The Israel Defense Forces intensified airstrikes on the enclave overnight, saying Tuesday it hit 400 targets in the last 24 hours, including a seaside refugee camp that hosted tens of thousands of displaced people.

Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesman for the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, said “dozens” of people were killed and injured in the strike on the al-Shati refugee camp on the edge of Gaza City.

In a post on the ministry’s Facebook account, he accused Israel of committing a “great massacre” at the camp. The Washington Post was unable to immediately verify the reports, though the IDF confirmed there was a strike on Shati.

The Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, briefly lost all power Monday night and only has enough fuel to last 72 hours or less, hospital director Marwan el-Sultan told The Post by phone.

He said the outage lasted about 10 minutes, but “this doesn’t solve the real problem that we don’t have enough fuel.”

The hospital director said he has only left the facility for a few hours to see his family since Oct. 7. He is too busy to leave, he said, and fears being hit by a bombardment while moving around. “We feel like we are in a dream,” he said. “The situation that we are in is not livable. … I cannot describe the situation in words.”

Overall, the Gaza Health Ministry said 704 people were killed in the strip in last 24 hours, the largest jump yet since the war began. The ministry said those deaths included 305 children, 173 women, and 78 elderly people.

The European Union is weighing whether to call for a “humanitarian pause” to allow aid into Gaza. U.N. Secretary General António Guterres last week called for “an immediate humanitarian cease-fire” — language that some E.U. countries support, but others don’t. Heading into a European Council summit on Thursday and Friday, the E.U.’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, called for a “humanitarian pause” to allow “humanitarian support to come in and be distributed.”

Earlier in the conflict, the Israeli military dropped leaflets in northern Gaza urging residents to flee south. On Monday, it dropped a new round of leaflets asking residents for information about hostages being held by Hamas. In return, Israel offered protection and compensation.

“If you want to live in peace and have a better future for your children, do the humanitarian deed immediately and share verified and valuable information about hostages being held in your area,” the leaflets read in Arabic.

It continued, “the Israeli military assures you that it will invest maximum effort in providing security for you and your home, and you will receive a financial reward. We guarantee you complete confidentiality.”

Berger reported from Ramallah, West Bank, Tarnopolsky from Jerusalem, Booth from London. Karla Adam and Victoria Bisset in London and Emily Rauhala in Brussels contributed to this report.