French President Emmanuel Macron has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the Gaza death toll is “intolerable” and Israel’s operations there “must cease”, AFP reports.

The president’s office said that in a telephone call that saw Macron toughen his tone, the French leader expressed France’s “firm opposition” to an Israeli offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, saying it “could only lead to a humanitarian disaster of a new magnitude” and create a new risk of regional escalation.

The French leader stressed that a ceasefire agreement should be reached “without further delay”, adding that such a deal should “guarantee the protection of all civilians and the massive inflow of emergency aid”.

Macron said that the lack of sufficient access to “a population in an absolute humanitarian emergency was unjustifiable”, his office said.

He said it was “imperative to open the port of Ashdod” in Israel north of the Gaza Strip, “a direct land route from Jordan and all the crossing points.”

The French president also urged “the prime minister and all Israeli leaders to have the courage to offer their fellow citizens a future of peace”, which he believes only the “creation of a Palestinian state” can achieve, the statement said.