Aboard the Dixmude, Lecornu celebrates New Year's Eve in the powder keg of the Middle East

Special envoy to Al-Arish (Egypt), aboard the Dixmude,

Accompanied by his translator, Sébastien Lecornu rushes into one of the tents set up aboard the Dixmude. “Hello everyone!” he exclaims to bedridden women. Visiting Sunday for New Year's Eve on the amphibious helicopter carrier (PHA) partially transformed into a hospital, the Minister of the Armed Forces inquired about the situation of civilians in Gaza injured by the war raging there. He is the first French official to meet them since the Middle East burned this fall. “The spirit is not celebrating here,” he notes, even if a few smiles emerge from the exchanges despite the apparent serious injuries. “Hello buddy! Were you well taken care of?”, he asks a ten-year-old boy who had his left leg amputated. On the cast that covers his right leg, names have been scribbled in marker around that of Kylian Mbappé, the player of the France team who lights up the kid's face when we talk to him about it. “Thank God, I am taken care of but I am tired,” replies Maher, who has just lost his father.

For a month, the national navy vessel has been moored in the Egyptian port of Al-Arish, fifty kilometers from the Gaza Strip. As Israel intensifies its offensive in response to the terrorist attack carried out by Hamas on October 7, the number of civilian casualties increases considerably. While the UN and humanitarian organizations are alarmed by the dramatic health conditions which are deteriorating in the Palestinian enclave. “France has also committed its army against terrorism. I can testify that she never neglected the question of civilians. Their protection is key,” insists the Minister of the Armed Forces, six weeks after his long tour in the Middle East. He then managed to convince the Egyptian authorities to welcome Dixmude, at the request of Emmanuel Macron. And tried to obtain from Israel that more wounded people could leave the Palestinian enclave for treatment. “Depending on the day, between 0, unfortunately, and sometimes up to 20 injured” are authorized to cross the Rafah crossing point, deplores Sébastien Lecornu who evokes “very frank exchanges” with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant to speed up the pace.

Since November 27, 90 Palestinians have been treated on the Diksmuide. “I am more used to treating soldiers, these are civilians victims of ballistic wounds, explosions and burial,” testifies the head doctor Paul, one of the six surgeons on board (including a Jordanian and a Emirati came as reinforcement). In the two operating theaters, 130 interventions were carried out. Some patients were then transferred by helicopter to hospitals in Cairo. Last Thursday, France also announced that two children arrived in France for treatment.

“What a shame when thousands have already died, tens of thousands are injured and risk dying from lack of care, food and water,” lamented LFI MP Thomas Portes on social networks, who spoke of a “miserable welcome” by mocking “the ghost care ship”. Allusion to the previous mission of Tonnerre, another PHA prepositioned in the Mediterranean before Dixmude, but which had not received any casualties. “It was a first response in an emergency situation,” says Sébastien Lecornu, annoyed by “the sterile, useless and stupid controversies that may have emerged.”

On the imposing 199 meter long helicopter carrier, 500 people including 240 sailors and 70 caregivers are busy. A resuscitation room, scanners and analysis laboratories make it possible to deal with emergencies. “We are going out of our usual comfort zone because the injuries are very serious with many children very psychologically impacted, very prostrate when they arrive on board,” says a doctor.

The duration of the Diksmuide mission was not specified while France recently reiterated its desire for a “humanitarian truce” which would also allow the release of hostages still held by Hamas.

Sent to the front line in the Middle Eastern powder keg by the President of the Republic since the start of hostilities, Sébastien Lecornu will travel to Lebanon this Sunday evening. In the south of the Cedar country, stronghold of Shiite Hezbollah, the security situation has deteriorated in recent days. The IDF bombed several positions not far from its border when northern Israel was targeted by Hezbollah. Numerous exchanges of fire raise fears of an escalation, 17 years after the war in Lebanon. 700 French soldiers are present on site as part of UNIFIL (United Nations). The minister should go to meet them on Monday.