Ahmed Abu Shamla had worked at the French consular office in Gaza since 2002, within the Institute and the French cultural center. He died on Saturday December 16 at the European Hospital where he had been admitted in serious condition. The house, where he took refuge in the south of the enclave after having to leave his home in the center of the Palestinian territory, was targeted by an Israeli bombardment on the evening of December 13.
“It is with great emotion that the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs learned of the death of one of its agents, who died as a result of his injuries during an Israeli bombing in Rafah, in the south from the Gaza Strip », reacted the Quai d’Orsay in a press release published on Saturday. The French authorities also “demanded that all light be shed by the Israeli authorities on the circumstances of this bombing, as quickly as possible.”
Two other staff from the French Institute were present in this Rafah home at the time of the strike. “Around ten family members of one of our agents also died in this bombing. It’s horrible “, explains a French diplomatic source, who emphasizes the difficulty of reaching the Gaza Strip, subject to a total communications cutoff. The local telephone operator, Paltel, has again reported in recent days a complete blackout of telephone and Internet networks.
“Heartbreaking”
Bordering Egypt, the town of Rafah, towards which the Israeli army is pushing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, officially for their own ” security », is regularly hit by air raids or artillery fire.
Part of Mr. Abu Shamla’s family was able to leave Gaza for France, as part of the evacuation system put in place by Paris for French people present in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian agents of the French Institute and their beneficiaries. But four of his adult children were not on the list of people likely to be evacuated and only Mr. Abu Shamla’s wife and their two minor children were able to leave the enclave.
“We are undoubtedly the country that has paid the most attention to its local law agents and in particular the Palestinians,” says a French diplomatic source. “There are a certain number of criteria which are explicit. Elements that are common in different conflicts when it comes to evacuations. This generally concerns French people and their beneficiaries: spouses and minor children – adult children being by definition independent people. »
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