Gennez after death of Belgian development agency employee and son in Gaza: “Israel’s responsibility is crushing”

An employee of the Belgian development agency Enabel and his seven-year-old son have been killed in a bombing in Gaza, Minister Caroline Gennez reports. According to Gennez, the Israeli government’s responsibility is “crushing.”

Abdallah Nabhan (33) and his seven-year-old son were killed last night when the Israeli army bombed the Palestinian city of Rafah. Nabhan’s wife is in a critical condition in hospital. Minister of Development Cooperation Caroline Gennez (Vooruit) announced this in a press release.

The toll of the bombing, which left at least seven dead, is extremely high for the Nabhan family. The couple’s two other children (aged 5 years and 7 months) suffered minor injuries. Abdallah Nabhan’s father (65), his 35-year-old brother and his six-year-old niece also lost their lives.

“Abdallah Nabhan was a very dedicated and valued colleague,” the press release said. “He started at Enabel in April 2020 as a Business Development Officer in a European project that guides small businesses in the Gaza Strip to produce in an environmentally friendly way, and that is in line with a Belgian development cooperation project aimed at helping young people find a job.”

Random bombing

Gennez points out that Abdallah Nabhan, like all other Enabel employees in Gaza, was on the list of people eligible to leave Gaza. “It was delivered to the Israeli authorities months ago. Sadly, Abdallah died before he and his family were allowed to leave Gaza safely. There are currently seven employees still stuck in Gaza.”

Gennez responds that Nabhan’s story is just one of tens of thousands. “When will it finally be enough? After six months of war and destruction in Gaza, we seem to be getting used to it, but the fact remains that the indiscriminate bombing of civilian infrastructure and innocent civilians is against all international, humanitarian and war laws. The Israeli government bears a crushing responsibility here.”

General director of Enabel Jean Van Wetter responds that he is “deeply affected” by the death of the colleague and his son. “And I am outraged and shocked by the continued attacks. This is yet another blatant violation by Israel of international humanitarian law. As director of a Belgian agency and as a former humanitarian worker, I cannot accept that this has continued unpunished for so long. It is tragic that innocent civilians are victims of this conflict. We must do everything we can to stop the violence.”