French president Emmanuel Macron denounced the ground offensive in Gaza city calling it “absolutely unacceptable” and “a huge mistake,” in an interview broadcasted Thursday on Israeli television Channel 12.

France's formal recognition of a Palestinian state is to be made on Monday in New York at a conference co-chaired with Saudi Arabia on the two-state solution, as the UN General Assembly starts.

"We have to recognize the legitimate right of Palestinian people to have a state. And if you don’t give a political perspective, in fact you just put them in the hands of those who are just proposing a security approach, an aggressive approach," said Macron.

The move has prompted Israeli and U.S. anger.

More than 140 countries recognize a Palestinian state, including more than a dozen in Europe.

Answering a question about economic sanctions, Macron said “I think if the Gaza City operation is pursued by the government, it's clearly a debate we will need.”

The French president also called the Israeli offensive on Gaza "a failure", saying "so many civilian casualties and victims" have destroyed "the image and the credibility of Israel, not just in the region but in public opinions everywhere."

The war has killed at least 65,141 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government.

U.N. agencies and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties. It does not say how many of those killed were civilians or combatants.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 attack that started the war and abducted 251 others.

Forty-eight hostages remain in Gaza, around 20 of them believed by Israel to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals.