The Media Part website said that an employee at the French Institute in the Gaza Strip died on December 16 as a result of an Israeli bombing of Rafah, despite his daily requests, to no avail, for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to return him and four of his children to their homeland, after evacuating part of their family.
The website explained – in a report written by Pascal Pascarello – that the French Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday the death of employee Ahmed. S. (59 years old) and that she learned “deeply affected” about his death, demanding the Israeli authorities “By shedding full light on“I will resolve the circumstances of this bombing as soon as possible.”
But this reaction – as Media Part says – strongly contradicts the practices and positions expressed by the Foreign Ministry, the first of which is its failure to respond to Ahmed’s own request to evacuate him with his children, saying only that “France has mobilized strongly to organize the exit of French citizens and agents of the French Institute in Gaza from the Gaza Strip.” “.
The ministry added that “departure from the Gaza Strip is subject to a license for each case from the Israeli and Egyptian authorities,” and that the General and Foreign Consulates received several thousand letters during this crisis, and even if not all letters are answered, each case is subject to careful and continuous follow-up.
But the website believes that the least that can be said is the lack of follow-up, or even the absence, of Ahmed and his children’s requests, after he worked for more than 20 years at the French Institute in Gaza and lived in its north with his wife Reem (50 years old) and 6 of their seven children.
The day after the bombing that struck the French Institute building, the family received a request from the French Consulate in Jerusalem to head towards Rafah, but when they arrived there they found that 4 of their children were not included in the list of people to be evacuated, which forced Ahmed to stay with them, and Reem went with the rest of the family to Egypt, while their seventh son arrived in France in 2021 to pursue higher studies.
Ahmed tried to contact the French consulate in Jerusalem so that they could correct what he believed to be a mistake. He wrote to Quentin Lubineau, the French deputy consul in Jerusalem, “I was surprised by the agreement that only allows me, my wife, my daughter, and two of my children to leave the Gaza Strip, ignoring my four children who live with me and they also… “Under my responsibility,” they asked for their quick evacuation.
Lupino responded by text message the next day, saying, “Unfortunately, it is very difficult to get places to go out. It is not our choice. At this stage it is not possible to do more. But if the opportunity arises to add people to the list, rest assured that we will do everything we can.”
The indifference of the Ministry and the Consulate
For her part, Reem and Majed, the seventh son who lives in France, contacted the ministry and the consulate to request the evacuation of Ahmed and his four children, but without receiving any response, Majed wrote to the director of the French Institute in Gaza, François Tiguet, “Please, I hope you will be able to Help them leave Gaza as quickly as possible before something bad happens to them and we lose them.”
The next day, the director of the institute, knowing that “the situation was deteriorating,” responded that he had no news about “adding to the list” and that “the decision does not concern us alone.” The family’s lawyer contacted the French authorities, saying that “the constant threat of the imminent death of their family members is unbearable and they are “They do not understand the silence of the French authorities.”
On December 13, Ahmed was seriously injured, as was one of his sons, during a bombing on the house where they had taken refuge in Rafah. The family’s lawyer sent an email to the authorities to inform them of his injuries and alert them to the necessity of evacuation.
The next day, she received the following response: “The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs acknowledges receipt of your message. The relevant services will not hesitate to provide full attention to your request in cooperation with our Consulate General in Jerusalem.”
Ahmed died on Saturday, December 16, in Khan Yunis Hospital, and his lawyer sent another letter to the authorities that has remained unanswered to this day. His four children remain in Gaza without a promise to evacuate them. However, the Foreign Ministry does not hesitate to express internally to its employees its connection to its agent, Ahmed, who He worked “with sincerity and kindness.”
