France suspends Gaza evacuations after student antisemitism row

Jean-Noël Barrot said no further evacuations will take place until an investigation is completed

France has suspended its programme for receiving Palestinians fleeing Gaza.

The freeze will be in place while authorities investigate a Palestinian student in France who has been accused of making antisemitic remarks online, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has said.

The 25-year-old woman was on a scholarship in northern France's city of Lille and will have to leave the country after her university withdrew her accreditation.

France has helped more than 500 people leave Gaza since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out following the 7 October 2023 attacks.

The woman, who arrived in France in July, was due to start attending classes at Sciences Po Lille university in the autumn.

She has since been deregistered, the university has said.

France's Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau wrote on X that he had requested for the account to be closed, legal action to be taken. "Hamas propagandists have no place in our country," he added.

Palestinians already in France through this scheme will be "subject to a new check" following "failures that brought this young woman here", Mr Barrot added.

He said that security checks carried out by state services and Israeli authorities did not detect these "unacceptable and concerning remarks".

Sciences Po Lille university confirmed the woman's comments to AFP and told the news agency that the posts were "in direct contradiction with the values upheld" by the institution.

The woman was part of a group evacuated from Gaza as part of a programme run by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, the director of Sciences Po Lille told French newspaper Libération.