French legislators blast Israel's killing of Foreign Ministry staffer in Gaza

By Seyma Uzundere

After a French Foreign Ministry staffer in Gaza was killed in an Israeli attack, lawmakers in Paris blasted Tel Aviv over the victim's death and voiced solidarity with his family.

The ministry on Saturday condemned the death of its staffer, who left-wing lawmaker Elsa Faucillon named as Ahmad Abu Shamla, due to injuries he sustained in an Israeli airstrike on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

It said some staffers "sought refuge in the home of a colleague working in the French Consulate, and the house was subjected to Israeli shelling on Dec. 13."

"France condemns this bombing of a residential building which caused the death of many other civilians," the ministry said, calling on Israeli authorities to clarify the circumstances of the shelling as soon as possible.

Faucillon said on X on Sunday that Abu Shamla had "worked for the French Institute in Gaza for 23 years."

"France did not put his four elder sons on the list of persons authorized to leave Gaza. He chose to stay with them, and lost his life in a bombardment," she said.

Mireille Clapot, the vice-chairwoman of parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, noted on X Saturday that Abu Shamla was among "18,000 dead including 2/3 women and children, 3 Israeli hostages."

She asked: "What will it take for the world to stop supporting Israel in its murderous madness?"

Antoine Leaument, a parliamentarian representing the left-wing New Ecological and Social People's Union in parliament, voiced solidarity with the staffer's loved ones on Saturday and said on X: "It's high time we pounded our fists against (Israeli Prime Minister) Netanyahu!"

Far-right politician Marine Le Pen also posted on X Sunday, saying that she deplored the death of the staffer and added that "French diplomacy has lost a dedicated member."

- Limited French media reporting

Most media covered in France on the matter was limited to the Foreign Ministry's official statement.

The Liberation daily used the headline, "A Foreign Ministry staffer killed in a bombardment, Paris demands 'all light' on his death."

Le Monde just went for, "Foreign Ministry staffer killed in Israeli bombardment in Rafah, Gaza Strip."

"France announced the death of a Foreign Ministry staffer in an Israeli strike in Gaza," Le Parisien wrote.

More 18,800 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7.

The Israeli death toll in the Hamas cross-border offensive stands at 1,200.