Polish president says Israeli envoy hinders bilateral relations with Tel Aviv

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) - Polish President Andrej Duda said the Israeli envoy in Warsaw hinders relations with Tel Aviv because of his attitude and remarks on Israel’s killing of a Polish aid worker in the Gaza Strip, media announced on Thursday.

“My assessment is that Ambassador Yacov Livne is the biggest problem for Israeli-Polish relations. Israeli authorities in Israel are behaving and speaking on this tragedy in a very subdued manner,” he said, according to the state-run PAP news agency. “However, unfortunately, their ambassador in Poland cannot maintain such delicacy and sensitivity, which is unacceptable.”

Duda stressed that he hopes Israeli authorities will behave seriously and the family of Damian Sobol will receive an apology and compensation.

Sobol, a volunteer working in Gaza for the World Central Kitchen charity, was killed along with six others Monday when a convoy he was traveling in was hit by an Israeli airstrike.

Media reports said Sobol volunteered for relief works in southern Türkiye, which was devasted by twin earthquakes in February 2023.