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| - The use of force by Israel must be "proportionate" in response to rockets fired by the Islamist Hamas movement following several nights of violence in Jerusalem, a French minister said Tuesday. "Quite clearly, we call for a proportionate use of force by the Israeli authorities," deputy foreign minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne told French lawmakers. France will "continue to work" to ensure a political solution to the crisis and the underlying Palestinian conflict, he added. "These events show that a political solution is needed, and with regards to this we will never take a back seat," he said. Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian added in a statement that "all participants must demonstrate the utmost restraint and avoid all provocations or incitement to hate, in order to end the violence whose primary victims are the Palestinian and Israeli populations". He also denounced increased rocket attacks toward Israel from Gaza, saying "these strikes, claimed by Hamas in particular, must stop immediately". Israel and Hamas exchanged heavy fire Tuesday, leaving at least 26 Palestinians and two Israelis dead. Le Drian has discussed the escalating violence over east Jerusalem with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi, whose country is the custodian of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, known by Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif, and the focus of the violence. "The ministers expressed their deep concern about the threats of forced evictions for residents of the Sheikh Jarrah district of east Jerusalem, which are fuelling the tensions," the statement said. vl/js/jh/bp
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