French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna has arrived in Israel where she was due to press for an “immediate and durable” truce in the conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, AFP reports.

Colonna will meet her Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen in Tel Aviv, as Israel presses on with its military offensive after the October 7 attacks that have left much of Gaza in ruins and sent tensions spiralling across the region.

Colonna is also due to meet the families of French hostages still held in Gaza and to call for an “immediate and durable new humanitarian truce”, according to a foreign ministry statement.

The truce should lead to a lasting ceasefire with the aim of releasing all hostages and delivering aid to Gaza, it said.

The French top diplomat will also meet her Palestinian counterpart Riyad al-Maliki in the occupied West Bank.