Paris, 20 November 2023 (dpa/MIA) - France is sending a warship to the eastern Mediterranean to provide medical support to Gazans in need, President Emmanuel Macron's office said on Sunday.

The French Navy helicopter carrier is due to arrive in Egypt in a few days. The warship can treat 40 seriously injured patients.

Meanwhile, another plane full of medical equipment is due to depart France at the beginning of the week. The plane will carry two mobile medical centres capable of treating hundreds of injured people.

Paris also said it was ready to take in sick and injured Palestinian children from the Gaza Strip who require urgent medical treatment at French hospitals.

Up to 50 children were to be treated in France, Macron posted separately on X.

So far, only a relatively few injured people have been able to leave the sealed-off Gaza Strip.

On Friday, according to the Egyptian Red Crescent, more than 70 people and a group of children were to be treated in the United Arab Emirates. The Gulf state had offered to take in up to 1,000 children from the Gaza Strip for medical treatment.

Macron spoke to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi by the phone on Saturday. According to the Élysée Palace, they agreed that the care of injured people in Gaza and the delivery of humanitarian aid should be better coordinated.

More lorries should also be allowed into the Palestinian territory, the Élysée said.

Photo: MIA archive