Employee of Belgian development agency and son killed in Gaza bombing

An employee of the Belgian development agency Enabel has been killed by Israeli bombings in the eastern part of the city of Rafah, in southern Gaza, Development Cooperation minister Caroline Gennez reported on X on Thursday. 

“It is with great sadness that I learned that last night one of our Enabel staff was killed by an Israeli bombing. Abdallah Nabhan and his 7-year-old son Jamal were killed in an attack on Rafah," Gennez said.

According to a statement from the minister’s office, Nabhan's wife is in a critical condition in hospital and is fighting for her life. The couple's two other children, aged five and seven months suffered minor injuries. His 65-year-old father, 35-year-old brother and his six-year-old niece also died.

Nabhan was one of the staff members on a list of people eligible to leave Gaza that was handed over to the Israeli authorities months ago. “Bombing civilian infrastructure and innocent civilians goes against every international and humanitarian law, as well as every law of war,” Gennez said.

She has summoned Israel’s ambassador to Belgium, Idit Rosenzweig-Abu, to explain the situation. In February, the ambassador was also taken to task after Enabel's offices in Gaza were destroyed in an Israeli bombardment. 

Enabel has been active in the Palestinian territories - Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank - for more than a quarter of a century. For the first 10 years, most funds were spent on infrastructure. Later, the focus evolved towards policy and governance support.

^{A Palestinian youth inspects the rubble of a building hit in overnight Israeli bombing in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on 21 April 2024 © MOHAMMED ABED / AFP}