Former French president Hollande calls Gaza dead 'collateral victims'

France's former president, Francois Hollande, has called French citizens  killed in Gaza “collateral victims”, during an event paying tribute to people killed in Israel on 7 October.

The comments were made on Wednesday during a ceremony in Paris, after a journalist asked whether there was a double standard in the reaction to killings in Israel and in Gaza and whether the latter also deserved a tribute.

In a widely circulated response, Hollande said: “It cannot be the same tribute. A life is a life and one life is equivalent to another but there are victims of terrorism and victims of war. Being a victim of terrorism means being attacked as a French person or as a defender of a way of life. A collateral victim, you are in war… it’s not of the same nature.”

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