French President Emmanuel Macron has said that he “hates the debate” over the value of “Jewish lives” and “Palestinian lives” and called for “civilians in Gaza to be protected first”, AFP reports.

“I hate this debate dividing people and saying: ‘For me, Jewish lives are more important’ or ‘for me Palestinian lives would be more important’. This is crazy,” Macron said on a visit to the Kazakhstan capital.

“All lives matter in this world,” he stressed, speaking in English to students. Civilians in Gaza “have nothing to do with the terrorist attacks”, Macron said.

“You have to attack and punish the terrorist groups but civilians are not the ones to attack,” Macron said. “You have to protect civilians in your counterattack … in order to focus on the terrorist groups.

“I want to make this distinction because all lives matter in this world,” he stressed. This was why France and other EU leaders called for a humanitarian pause in the fighting, Macron said.

“We have to protect first civilians in Gaza. Because they have nothing to do with these terrorist attacks,” he added.