Justification for Macron’s ship’s voyage to Gaza

President Emmanuel Macron‘s visit to Israel and its neighboring countries has led to a French navy ship being sent to the eastern Mediterranean.

The Tonnerre has often been wrongly called a “hospital-ship”.

Its main job in the area affected by conflict will be to provide help to the people of Gaza by delivering medical aid.

The Mistral class helicopter-carrier is a very important ship in the French navy.

The Tonnerre can bring many soldiers, tanks, and armored vehicles to a foreign beach. However, this time the mission will be very different.

The boat sailed away from its starting place, Toulon, on Wednesday. This is the same ship that France agreed to give to Russia 10 years ago, but then backed out of the deal because they were worried that it could be used to attack a country like Ukraine.

Besides being able to project its strength, the Tonnerre also has a small hospital unit. This unit has 69 beds and two operating rooms, which is similar to a hospital in a French town with 25,000 people.

Clearly, because of how much help Gaza needs, the impact of this will not be very significant, it will only be symbolic.

However, showing kindness and compassion towards others is significant. President Macron has received some criticism in France for favoring Israel too much. However, this decision allows for a slight adjustment towards prioritizing Arab interests.

Other practical considerations might also be relevant. The Tonnerre has advanced communication tools that could help France gather information on its own in the conflict.

And if things in the Middle East get worse and turn into a bigger war, it might be necessary to have ships ready to bring French citizens back home, especially in Lebanon where there are a lot of them. The Tonnerre doesn’t have a lot of weapons, so it needs two frigates, the Surcouf and the Alsace, to protect it in dangerous areas.