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War between Hamas and Israel: a French archaeologist evacuated from Gaza
A Frenchman was evacuated from Gaza on Friday, November 3, after almost three weeks of waiting. It bears witness to daily life in the bombed city. – (France 2)
A Frenchman was evacuated from Gaza on Friday, November 3, after almost three weeks of waiting. It bears witness to daily life in the bombed city.
Friday November 3, René Elter found his wife in Paris after several weeks of anxiety. He was among the first French people to leave Gaza on Wednesday 1st november. An archaeologist for Première Urgence Internaional, he directed several excavation sites in the Gaza Strip and was due to go to one of them on October 7, when Hamas launched its attack against Israel.
“We had to save our skin”
“It was shooting everywhere. We saw rockets leaving the port, rockets leaving a little further north.”, testifies René Elter. The next day, when the Israeli army responded, the Frenchman found himself again among the bombs. “They told me, ‘René, you have to get out of the building, it’s going to be destroyed (…) You had to save your skin, we’re at 200%’. he remembers. He is then transported from shelter to shelter with 30 humanitarian workers, while maintaining contact with his Gazan colleagues. “They were at the end“, assures the man, who wants to return to Gaza.