French parliament’s president slammed for refusing to hold minute of silence for staffer killed in Gaza

By Nur Asena Erturk

A French lawmaker lashed out at the parliament’s president who refused to observe a minute of silence for a Foreign Ministry staffer killed in an Israeli strike on Gaza.

Mathilde Panot from the left-wing party La France Insoumise (LFI) recalled on X on Tuesday that Ahmad Abu Shamla, the ministry staffer, was killed in Israeli airstrikes.

She added that he had been working at the French Institute for 23 years.

"This morning, I requested to hold a minute of silence at the National Assembly. The president of the National Assembly refused it. Shameful," Panot wrote.

The ministry staffer, who was injured in an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, succumbed to his injuries on Saturday, the ministry said.

It added that the house of a colleague from the French Consulate where the staffer took shelter was bombed on Dec. 13.

"Our colleague has been working for France since 2002," the ministry said in a statement, offering condolences to the victim's family.

The victim was Ahmad Abu Shamla, according to Elsa Faucillon, a left-wing French lawmaker.

"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.

Israel has bombarded the Gaza Strip from the air and land, imposed a siege, and mounted a ground offensive in retaliation for a cross-border attack by Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7.

At least 19,600 Palestinians, mostly children and women, have since been killed and over 52,500 injured in Israeli attacks, according to Gaza’s health authorities.

The Israeli death toll in the Hamas attack stands at 1,200, while more than 130 hostages are still held by the Palestinian group in Gaza, according to official figures.