French Ambassador Patrice Paoli expressed concern over the presidential vacuum in Lebanon, saying the Lebanese should find common ground on resolving their problems.

In remarks to several newspapers on the occasion of France's National Day, Paoli said the formation of Prime Minister Tammam Salam's cabinet earlier this year and the implementation of security plans in unstable areas across the country were not enough to resolve Lebanon's crises.

Clashes erupted in Paris on Sunday as thousands of people protested against Israel and in support of residents in the Gaza Strip, where a six-day conflict has left 166 Palestinians dead.

Several thousand demonstrators walked calmly through the streets of Paris behind a large banner that read "Total Support for the Struggle of the Palestinian People."

France's foreign minister called Sunday for an immediate ceasefire in Israel and the Gaza Strip, where a deadly six-day conflict is escalating in what he said was an "absolutely disastrous" way.

"In Gaza and in Israel, the absolute priority is a ceasefire," Laurent Fabius told reporters in Vienna, where he was gathering with his Western counterparts to discuss Iran's controversial nuclear program in a meeting that was also due to touch on the Gaza offensive.

France said Sunday its military offensive that freed northern Mali from the grip of Islamists would be replaced by an operation spanning the wider, largely lawless Sahel region to combat extremist violence.

The so-called Serval offensive kicked off in January last year when French troops came to the help of Malian soldiers to rid the country's vast desert north from Islamists and Tuareg rebels who seized control after a coup.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he will discuss an international push for a ceasefire in Gaza with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his German and French counterparts during talks in Vienna on Sunday.

Hague said in a statement on Saturday that the discussions on ending the hostilities between Israel and Gaza would take place on the sidelines of talks on Iran's nuclear program in the Austrian capital.

A corruption scandal surrounding former French president Nicolas Sarkozy deepened further on Saturday with fresh leaks of telephone conversations purporting to show he offered to get a judge a plum job in return for favors.

Sarkozy, who was charged two weeks ago with corruption and influence peddling in a case related to his campaign to win the presidency in 2007, claims he is the victim of a "grotesque" set-up. He accuses his enemies of using the justice system to undermine a possible political comeback.

A French-Algerian man suspected of carrying out a deadly shooting at the Jewish Museum in Brussels has dropped an appeal against his extradition to Belgium, his lawyer said on Friday.

Mehdi Nemmouche, 29, had filed an appeal against a June ruling that ordered his extradition from France, but his lawyer Apolin Pepiezep said he had decided not to go ahead with the challenge.

France said Friday that the six powers negotiating with Iran are "united" in seeking a long-term deal on its nuclear program.

The P5+1 group of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany are "united on one goal: obtaining a credible, complete and sustainable agreement which provides all the necessary guarantees that Iran will not seek to acquire nuclear weapons," French foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said.

Britain and Germany's foreign ministers will join U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Vienna this weekend to seek to bridge what Washington called "significant gaps" in ongoing nuclear talks with Iran, London and Berlin said Friday.

The negotiations between Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany, which last week entered the final straight, are aimed at forging a lasting deal with Iran meant to ease fears that the Islamic state might develop nuclear weapons.

France strongly condemns “aggression” against Israel and stands with it in the face of rocket attacks from Gaza, the French president told the Israeli prime minister on Wednesday in a phone call.

Francois Hollande "expressed France's solidarity (with Israel) in the face of rocket fire from Gaza" and told Benjamin Netanyahu "that France strongly condemns these aggressions," said a statement from the French presidency.