PARIS (Reuters) - Three French planes delivering 54 tonnes of aid for Gaza arrived in Egypt this weekend and France has three naval vessels in the eastern Mediterranean ready to respond to the evolving situation, senior officials said on Sunday. Israel has rebuffed repeated international calls for a ceasefire in the four weeks since fighters from Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, burst over the border, killing 1,400 people and taking more than 240 others hostage. The French aid was delivered over the weekend by two Airbus A400M planes, which are partially armoured, the French army said on X, formerly known as Twitter. "This humanitarian cargo, which is destined for the civilian populations of the Gaza Strip, contains medicine, food aid, generators," the captain for one of the planes, Lieutenant Colonel Nicolas, said on Saturday morning before taking off. A French helicopter carrier, the Tonnerre, which has medical support facilities, and two naval vessels were in the Mediterranean, the French Army said on X.

---

Persons: Catherine Colonna, Sebastien Lecornu, Nicolas, Lecornu, Layli Foroudi, Jean Terzian, Andrew Heavens Organizations: PARIS, Airbus, Twitter . Defence, French Army Locations: Gaza, Egypt, France, Doha, Israel, French