The Quai d’Orsay announced the death of a second Frenchman on Monday, without specifying the circumstances of his death. Around ten nationals are also missing.
While the death toll from the attack carried out since Saturday by Hamas against Israel continues to rise – more than 700 dead recorded on the Israeli side according to the IDF and 560 in the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health -, concern is growing around the number of French victims of this offensive of unprecedented scale. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced, Monday evening, October 9, that it was “without news” of 14 French nationals. The Quai d’Orsay had earlier informed of the death of a second French national, “victim of terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel”. The day before, Paris had announced the death of a “compatriot in Israel” in the same context, without specifying the circumstances.
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According to information communicated to franceinfo by the deputy for French people abroad, Meyer Habib, whose constituency includes Israel, these two people were killed while they participated in a rave party in the desert, near the border with Gaza, and targeted by the attackers. The toll is particularly high there since 260 people participating in the Nova Festival were killed, according to emergency services. Contacted by franceinfo, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not confirmed, Monday evening, that the two deceased French people were there.
Several people were also taken hostage by the Palestinian Islamist movement during this event. A young Frenchman, originally from Bordeaux and living in Israel, would be one of them, according to the MP Meyer Habib, who claims to communicate with many Franco-Israeli families. The parents ofAvidan T., 26, have not heard from their son since Saturday morning. “I have just spoken at length with his father, a doctor: he has just confirmed to me, as we feared, that Avidan (…) is indeed taken hostage by Hamas”wrote the parliamentarian in a message published on the social network (ex-Twitter).
Around ten unlocated French people
In totalHamas did “more than 100 prisoners”, according to the Israeli government press office. How many French people are among these hostages? The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Monday evening that it was “without news” of 14 nationals including “situation is considered very worrying”specifying that “This number is still subject to change.” Among these French people is a 12-year-old child who was in Israel, specifies the press release from the Quai d’Orsay.
“The information we have allows us to consider the kidnapping of some of them as very likely.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairsin a press release
Besides Avidan T., at least two French people still untraceable are among the festival-goers kidnapped at the Nova Festival, according to their relatives, who testified to several media. France 3 Provence-Alpes Côte d’Azur reports that a young Franco-Israeli man of 25, originally from Marseille, and whosehis family had left the city for Israel around twenty years ago, would be among the hostages. “We don’t know what happened to him. I’ll let you gauge the anguish of the parents who have no information about him,” testifies a member of his family. The Jewish consistory of Marseille declares to France 3 that it receives information “dropper” about this young man and not wanting to communicate at this point.
“The soldiers are coming”
The entourage of a 32-year-old Franco-Israeli woman, Céline Ben David Nagar, also expressed their distress. This mother of a six-month-old little girl disappeared while she was driving near the Nova Festival, in Mefalsim, a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip, her husband said on BFMTV “The last message that Céline sent was ‘the soldiers are arriving’. (…) As she has not given any news since, we think that these famous soldiers were not Israeli soldiers, but terrorists” , he reported, assisted by a translator.
Her husband went there and said he found his “vehicle riddled with bullets. We did not find many traces of blood, which allows us to assume that Céline is still alive”. “We found the car with about four bullet holes”confirms the young woman’s brother on RTL. “Maybe my sister managed to escape somewhere”he hopes.
The national anti-terrorism prosecution not yet seized
MP Meyer Habib fears that the number of French victims will rise as the days go by. As recalled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, around 87,000 French nationals – registered with the consulates in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem – live in Israel. To this it must be added “many French people” who were “passing”, on vacation in particular, at the time of the attacks, adds the government. As the fighting continues, three days after the start of the offensive, the ministry renews its call for a “extreme vigilance”. Several crisis units have been opened.
On the judicial side, the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office (Pnat) has not yet taken up the case of the two deceased French people. Pnat explains to franceinfo being “in constant link with the Quai d’Orsay in order to collect reliable information on the victims and the circumstances of their death”. These elements will then be analyzed with a view to “the possible opening of investigations”.