At UN, Macron calls Trump’s Gaza “peace” a spectacle of shame

French President Emmanuel Macron used his farewell address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday to reject U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that he had ended the war in Gaza, saying the proclaimed peace had not reopened humanitarian access “for a single second.” Hours earlier, Trump had described the same events from the same rostrum as a diplomatic triumph that saved thousands of lives.

Trump told the 81st General Assembly that when he last spoke in the hall a year ago the war was “raging brutally,” hostages remained in Hamas tunnels and there was “no end in sight.”

“But here, on the sidelines of the General Assembly, we took the first steps,” he said. “A few weeks later, we ended the war in Gaza, saving untold thousands of lives. We also brought home all remaining hostages, both living and dead. Every single one of them.” He thanked the Security Council for unanimously endorsing his 20-point Gaza peace plan and the Board of Peace he chairs.

Macron, speaking later in his last UN appearance before leaving office next May, struck a sharply different note. “Some boast of a supposed peace. But that peace has not reopened humanitarian access for a single second,” he said, banging his fist on the podium. “Are we simply to stand by and watch this spectacle that should shame us all?” He added that a year earlier a dozen states had recognised Palestine and that recognition without action on the ground lacked credibility.

The White House responded that Trump “ended the war between Israel and Hamas, freed all living hostages, returned the bodies of the deceased to their loved ones, and is now leading the implementation of the 20-Point Plan for Peace in Gaza.” Spokeswoman Anna Kelly said: “While others talk, this President took this complex problem head on. No one has done more for peace and stability in the region.”

Macron also pointed to daily violations in the West Bank, noting that Hamas has never operated there, and said those who believed violating the sovereignty of Israel’s neighbours would guarantee its security were instead weakening it. He framed the wider choice facing the world as one between “the law of the jungle” and a “civilised international society,” ending with “Long live the United Nations.”

France recognised a Palestinian state last year and has since imposed some sanctions over settler violence and begun a process to ban settlement products. Macron has faced domestic criticism that recognition has not been matched by sufficient action on the ground. Trump’s account and Macron’s rebuttal now stand as the two most prominent official readings of the same Gaza diplomacy presented to the same audience on the same day.

Macron ⁠warned against a global “return to the law of the jungle”, saying countries faced a choice between a world governed by power and coercion and a “civilized international society.”

“Our duty, more than ever, is to stand alongside the United Nations. We cannot accept the new order of impunity that some would like to build,” he said.

He ended his speech with “Long Live the United Nations!”

With Reuters, edited by g.g.

Caption: President of France Emmanuel Macron speaks during the General Debate of the 81st session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly at United Nations Headquarters in New York, New York, USA, 22 September 2026. EPA/SARAH YENESEL