The president’s entourage said that this tribute “to Jewish French citizens” will be “placed under the universal sign of the fight against anti-Semitism and through it all forms of hatred, racism and oppression towards minorities”.

French President Emmanuel Macron will host Wednesday a solemn ceremony at the courtyard of the Invalides memorial in Paris in  memory of the 42 French citizens killed in the massacre committed by Hamas terrorists on October 7and three others still believed to be held hostage in the Gaza strip.

More than 1200 people, mostly civilians,  were killed in the massacre in southern Israel. Hamas took 260 hostages. Israel says 132 remain in Gaza including at least 28 believed to have been killed.

Israel launched a massive military offensive in Gaza following the attacks with two objectives: the dismantling of Hamas’ military capabilities and the return of the hostages.

Wednesday’s ceremony at the Invalides “aims to pay tribute to the victims of a major terrorist attack committed by Hamas,” a senior French presidential official, who asked not to be named, told reporters.

In the presence of their families, many of whom will be flown in from Israel on a special flight, this solemn moment will also concern six wounded French citizens, the four freed French Hamas hostages, and three French citizens “still missing and presumed hostages”, said the Élysée Palace, which explained that it had no information to provide concerning the latter, particularly “in terms of proof of life”. Each victim will be represented by a photograph bearing his or her name.

Emmanuel Macron’s entourage said that this tribute “to Jewish French citizens” will be “placed under the universal sign of the fight against anti-Semitism and through it all forms of hatred, racism and oppression towards minorities”. Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who has been invited to attend, will not be present for “diary reasons”, but will be represented by the Israeli Embassy in Paris.

“Nevertheless, it is obvious that we owe the same emotion and the same dignity to the French victims of the bombings in Gaza, and this tribute will be paid to them at another time,” the presidential official said.

Many families of French citizens who died in the attack by Hamas have made clear they do not want to see the extreme-left LFI (La France Insoumise) party figures at the ceremony, accusing the party of failing to sufficiently denounce the attack and term Hamas as a terror group. Moroever, it’s LFI that called for a ceremony for the Palestinians killed in Gaza.

The presidential official said that according to protocol all MPs were invited to the ceremony and it “is up to everyone to assess the appropriateness or not of their presence, given families have spoken out and expressed strong emotion.”

A poll published on Tuesday shows that three quarters of French people consider that elected representatives of LFI have no place at the ceremony to pay tribute to the French victims of Hamas.