SINGAPORE: French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that European countries should "harden the collective position" against Israel if it does not respond appropriately to the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
With international pressure mounting on Israel over the deepening hunger crisis in Gaza, Macron said action was needed "in the next few hours and days".
He also asserted recognition of a Palestinian state with conditions was "not only a moral duty, but a political necessity".
If there was no response in line with the humanitarian situation in Gaza "in the coming hours and days... we will have to harden our collective position," Macron said on a visit to Singapore.
This meant dropping an assumption that human rights were being respected "and apply sanctions", the French leader said hours before addressing a defence summit in the city-state.
Macron is on a diplomatic tour in Southeast Asia which also saw him visit Vietnam and Indonesia earlier this week.
While in Jakarta, Macron and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto issued a joint statement condemning Israeli plans to take control of Gaza and any moves to "forcibly remove the Palestinian population from their homeland".
Paris hoped to "trigger a movement of recognition for a Palestinian state under certain conditions", including the demilitarisation of Hamas and recognition of Israel's right to exist and protect itself, Macron said in the Indonesian capital.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza remained dire despite aid beginning to trickle back into the territory after a more than two-month Israeli blockade.
Food security experts said starvation was looming for one in five people.
Israel has also intensified its military offensive in what it said was a renewed push to destroy Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 attack triggered the war.
'Ukraine a test of credibility for the US'
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that Washington faces a "credibility test" over its response to Russia dragging its feet on a Ukraine ceasefire.
Moscow has rebuffed calls for an immediate ceasefire and kept up an intense bombardment of Ukraine even as diplomatic efforts to end the war have gained momentum.
US President Donald Trump called Vladimir Putin "crazy" late on Sunday in a rare rebuke of the Russian leader but he has yet to follow up on repeated threats to impose fresh sanctions on Moscow.
Macron said that if Russia gives "confirmation that it is not ready to make peace" Washington must then confirm its "commitment" to impose sanctions on Moscow, stressing it was a "credibility test for the Americans".
"I spoke 48 hours ago to President Trump who showed his impatience. The question now is what do we do? We (Europeans) are ready," he said during a visit to Singapore.
Macron will give the opening speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Asia's main annual security and defence conference, which was addressed last year by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The French leader said this week he believed Trump now realised Putin lied when he claimed to be ready for peace in Ukraine, and hoped the US president's anger would translate into action.
Macron said it was time to threaten Russia with "much more massive sanctions" to persuade it to end the conflict begun by its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The French president visited Kyiv on May 10 with other European leaders to give Russia an ultimatum -- agreed with Washington -- to accept a ceasefire.
The Russian offensive has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the destruction of large parts of eastern and southern Ukraine.
