November 15, 2011
French consul injured after Israeli raid on Gaza
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Members of Hamas security forces survey a Hamas compound damaged in an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza Strip on Nov. 14, 2011. Photo by REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
France’s consul to the Gaza Strip, his wife and 13-year-old daughter were injured during an Israeli air strike on Sunday night, French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said.
Valero told reporters the three were hit by shrapnel at their residence in Gaza, which is located 200 meters from the site of an Israeli missile attack, he added.
“France condemns the consequences of the raid,” he said. “While we are all for Israeli security, France recalls the utmost necessity to avoid civilian harm,” Valero said, without specifying the nature of their injuries.
The raid, which killed one policeman and wounded four others after Palestinian militants from the coastal territory fired a rocket into southern Israel, is likely to strain already difficult relations between Paris and Jerusalem.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has written to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reaffirm friendship despite what he refers to as their “differing views on the Middle East”.
Sarkozy’s comments, in a condolence message to Netanyahu for the death of his father-in-law, seemed to make an effort to try to clear the air a week after a reported gaffe this month at the G20 summit in Cannes, when he was overheard telling U.S. President Barack Obama he thought Netanyahu was “a liar”.
Reporting By Vicky Buffery; writing by John Irish
