WARSAW (Reuters) – Israel should apologise and pay compensation to the family of a Polish national who was among seven aid workers killed in an airstrike in Gaza, Poland’s prime minister and president said on Thursday.
Citizens from Australia, Britain and Poland were among seven people working for celebrity chef Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in central Gaza on Monday, the NGO said.
Damian Sobol, 35, was a relief worker and lived in the city of Przemysl, in southeastern Poland, according to the city’s mayor Wojciech Bakun.
“We will expect… an immediate explanation of the circumstances and compensation for the victims’ relatives,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk told a news conference.
President Andrzej Duda joined his call for an apology, compensation and investigation from Israel, while also criticising Israel’s ambassador to Poland for his comments after the incident.
Ambassador Yacov Livne said in a post on social media platform X on Tuesday that the “extreme right and left” in Poland were accusing Israel of intentional murder, adding that “antisemites will always remain antisemites”.
“The authorities in Israel speak in a very subdued and sensitive manner. Unfortunately, their ambassador in Poland is unable to maintain such delicacy and this is unacceptable,” Duda said during a televised speech on NATO’s anniversary.
“Today Mr. Ambassador is making these relations very difficult. This is my assessment.”
The Polish foreign ministry has summoned the ambassador for Friday.
Israel did not have an ambassador in Poland for months under the previous government due to a row over Holocaust education trips for Israeli students to Poland. He was reinstated last year.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz, Anna Włodarczak-Semczuk; Editing by Toby Chopra and Sharon Singleton)
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